


Beautiful Far Away

by amaradangeli



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Accidental Marriage, F/M, Planet in Peril
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-30
Updated: 2015-06-10
Packaged: 2018-02-06 19:21:04
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 43,928
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1869417
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amaradangeli/pseuds/amaradangeli
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>While on a routine exploratory mission, Colonel Jack O'Neill and Captain Samantha Carter get caught up in a children's game that turns out to be the beginning of Rorilian marriage rites.  When seismic activity starts to rock the village, the local leaders demand the ritual be seen through to its natural conclusion to avoid further angering their gods.  Sam's equipment suggests the tremors are caused by an unidentifiable metal, but her science seems to be a point of contention amongst the leaders.  She's convinced she needs just a little more time to figure out what is happening on the planet.  Unfortunately, that means she's jumping into a ritual marriage with her new commanding officer.  What could possibly go wrong?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by [fems](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fems/pseuds/fems) in the [QCC2014Q2](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/QCC2014Q2) collection. 



> The challenge details are at the end of the most currently posted chapter; none of them spoil major plot points.
> 
> All the beautiful artwork you see here and [at my website](http://amaradangeli.weebly.com) for this fic (and Primary Emotion, as well) was created by the incredibly and multi- talented Ikorni/Aenigmatic. You should check her out.
> 
> This is a big piece of work that is fabulously ~~unbeta'd~~ ~~half-beta'd~~ mostly-beta'd. I've been over it with a fine tooth comb and Microsoft Word's finest (and my beta is an ace so there's that). ~~Which means~~ However, obviously, when you find the mistakes Word and I were both too inept to find, I'd appreciate it if you'd let us know. Word will get flogged with a wet noodle. I'll be punished with a shot. A shot of my liquor cabinet's finest...
> 
> One last little note - this story takes us AU after Season 1's Singularity so spoilers for things up to that point.
> 
>  [](https://www.flickr.com/photos/semiresponsive1/35107958653/in/album-72157683563675853/)

"Morning, Carter.”

Sam slid into the space across from her commanding officer on the bench of one of the picnic-style tables that circled the village well.  She squinted behind her sunglasses and tried to swallow her groan of displeasure over the brightness of the suns.  He pushed a clay mug of steaming grey liquid towards her.  His cocky grin was almost enough to make her refuse on principle.  _Almost_ enough.

She grabbed the cup.  “Good morning, Colonel O’Neill.”

“Party a little too hard last night, Captain?”

“I think that last round was a bad idea,” Daniel said and plopped onto the bench next to her.  She leaned over to rest her head on the archeologist’s shoulder until his floppy hair tickled her forehead and his voice rumbled uncomfortably through his torso to her aching head.  “How can you be so chipper this morning, Jack?”

The colonel grinned and poured another cup of the Rorilian coffee they’d learned to stomach just in time to go home.  He started to slide the cup across the table as he’d done for Sam, but Daniel’s hand shot out and captured it as if he were afraid the colonel was going to snatch it back.  Daniel took a long gulp of the overly caffeinated beverage and Sam was once again astonished to observe his ability to tolerate the extreme heat. 

“Colonel O’Neill and I declined the offer of the local celebratory beverage,” Teal’c’s deep voice washed over her. 

She had to lean back a little to look up enough to see his face despite the fact he was on the other side of the table.  Unfortunately, that put his face right next to the bright ball of the closer sun.  “You guys could have said something,” she groused then downed a mouthful of the kevvi that, thankfully, tasted a lot less like dishwater than it looked.

The colonel raised an eyebrow at her and she opted to ignore it.  It was as close to insubordination as she’d ever get, and it felt good on top of the hangover.  She took another swallow of the kevvi then looked across the square towards the construction site.  “They’ve really made a lot of progress in just a week.”

“It’s pretty fascinating, actually, that they’ve waited so long to construct a weights and measures building,” Daniel launched in with more excitement than his hangover should have allowed.  “For a successful agrarian society, it’s—“

“We know, Daniel,” the colonel reminded him.  “You were just as excited about it when we got here.”

“It is my understanding that those functions were previously carried out in the temple offices,” Teal’c said and frowned at O’Neill when he offered a cup of the kevvi the Jaffa had turned down each of the six previous mornings as well.

Colonel O’Neill clapped his hands and pushed back from the table.  “Okay, kids.  Let’s get packed up and move out.  We’ve got six klicks to cover to recover all of Carter’s thingamabobs—“

“Seismic sensors, sir,” she put in.

“Her _seismic sensors_ ,” he repeated dutifully with humored exasperation and a roll of his eyes, “and a date with the ‘gate in two and a half hours.

Sam drained her cup.  “It’s strange we haven’t felt any tremors.  With the readings we received from the MALP, I anticipated stronger seismic activity.”

“Did you not say there might be activity we could not feel?” Teal’c asked.

“Maybe,” she shrugged.  “But I’ll be anxious to see last night’s data.  The previous days didn’t look like I expected.”

“Did you figure out what was causing the strange spikes?”

She shook her head at Daniel.  “No.  It’s metallic, whatever it is.  But the Rorilian people either don’t know or won’t say what it would be and it’s nothing that my equipment recognizes.” 

“Carter, these people barely have a passing acquaintance with hygiene.”

“They’re aware of common metals and elements, sir.  They’ve got manufactured tools and implements.”  Sam gestured towards the village’s religious leader’s wife, Ohara, “And clearly they have more than a passing relationship with the precious metals.” 

“Well, time’s up, Captain.  You’re going to have to use the data you’ve got.”

“Maybe General Hammond will—“

“No can do, Carter.  We’ve got a jam-packed mission roster.  Fifteen minutes,” O’Neill pre-admonished his easily distracted scientists, “and then we’re headed out.”

Well, that was patently untrue, but if the colonel said the mission was over, the mission was over.  “Yes, sir.”  She trudged back to the squat, clay house where she’d been given quarters while the guys headed back to the barracks where they’d been sleeping alongside what amounted to the village’s security force. 

She packed her rucksack and thanked her hostess, a young village woman whose husband was away farming the grain fields on the plains on the other side of the mountains that formed the western boundary of the village.

Twenty minutes later – five of which Colonel O’Neill spent prodding Daniel out of various conversations with the villagers – SG-1 headed back towards the gate taking the scenic route on which Sam had set up her sensors.  After watching her grimace for a half a klick, the colonel tossed her a little bottle of ibuprofen he pulled out of a pocket and she smiled at him gratefully.  She dry-swallowed three and tossed the bottle back.

They made it first to the field in which she’d set up the last of her sensors.  The grass was knee-high and pale in the late autumn sun and a group of kids played a pick up game of Rorilian stick ball while a few of the village elders talked amongst themselves.  Sam recognized two among them, the religious leader Eduan, and the village representative Baurton.  They were gesturing towards the far end of the field and no-doubt planning the planting of the spring wheat they’d been discussing during the previous night’s festivities.

“Colonel!” a young girl with long brown hair called out from her place in the center of the field that was set up more like cricket than baseball.  She jumped and waved emphatically.  Sam watched as the colonel’s eyes crinkled at the corners as a grin split his face.  He was a jovial enough guy, but real smiles from him were rare and most often elicited by children.

“Nenetl,” he acknowledged warmly as the girl broke from the game and rushed across the field to him.

“How is it he can pronounce her name but not a single other word I introduce him to?” Daniel huffed good-naturedly.

“You must leave today?” the girl asked, tiny hands wrapped around the colonel’s wrists.

He crouched in front of her and Sam wandered off to collect her sensor, oddly uncomfortable with his easy affection for the young girl.  As she packed the sensor back into its case she watched out of the corner of her eye as the little girl hugged the colonel, then Daniel, and then, after a moment of consideration, a very uncomfortable looking Teal’c.

By the time Sam made it back to her team, the rest of the young girls had abandoned the boys to their ball game and were skipping around the male contingent of SG-1, picking flowers and singing.  The guys stood talking amongst themselves, the colonel’s hands resting comfortably on top of his weapon as he leaned back into his hips in that way he had of looking casual when he was really calculating his surroundings.  Sam noticed how the elders across the field were no longer surveying their land but her team.

The girls huddled together and giggled, throwing glances over their shoulders and Sam had the sensation that they were laughing at her – a sensation she was familiar with despite the passage of nearly twenty years.  Before she could stop it, little Nenetl had skipped over and joined Sam’s hand with the colonel’s.  He looked at Sam and shrugged.  His warm palm was strong against hers that was starting to sweat.  She shouldn’t be touching the colonel that way.  She moved to release his hand, but Nenetl wrapped her little hands around the officers’ clasped ones.

Sam chanced a look into the colonel’s eyes and found them twinkling.  The elders had crossed the field and stood only a few yards away.

“Colonel,” Nenetl said solemnly.  “Sam.”  She patted their hands to indicate they should keep them together then stepped back with a smile.  She took a handful of the tiny white flowers from her friends and set them atop their hands.  “And now you shall be married of the flowers and the grasses and waters and winds to come.”

She giggled and her little friends did, too.  The colonel grinned.  “How about that, Carter?  It was a helluva lot cheaper than my first wedding.”  He dropped her hand and clapped her on the back; the little white flowers floated to the ground.

Sam, for her part, wondered how he could be so cavalier about something that caused panic to tighten around her lungs.  She hadn’t thought of marriage in more than a year and wasn’t ready to think about it at all.

The village elders were murmuring amongst themselves.  Considering they were back to their discussion, the Colonel was chuckling, and the children had run off to continue their games, Sam realized she needed to shake off her momentary panic and get back to work.  What had just happened was nothing.  Nothing at all.  She was the only one making a big deal about it, though no one knew about the anxiety that was brewing in the pit of her stomach.

She picked her sensor case up off the ground.  “I’m done here, sir.”

“Lead on, Mrs. O’Neill,” he said with a grin.

She resisted first the urge to blanch and then the urge to roll her eyes at him as she set off towards well-worn path that would take her to the old circle of outbuildings where she’d placed another sensor.  When she was far enough ahead, and had regained the ability to take a full, deep breath, she looked back at him over her shoulder.  “That would be Doctor O’Neill, sir.”  She saw his smile before she turned back towards the path. 

********

 It took two hours to collect and repackage all of her sensors.  By the time they made it to the gate, they’d collected a larger contingent of villagers than they’d expected considering they had said their goodbyes before leaving the village.  Nevertheless, there stood Eduan and Baurton, who certainly had better things to do than watch SG-1 dial the gate.  Nenetl and her gaggle of girlfriends managed to follow along; their games were not location specific.  Ohara had joined her husband, and a few others who were dressed in the Rorilian temple robes had gathered close by.

Just as Jack gave Daniel the order to dial the gate, Sam registered the concerned looks on the faces of the adults.  As Daniel approached the gate, the ground shook beneath their feet.

“Carter, would that be your seismic activity?”

“Uh, yes, sir.  It would appear so.”  Sam pulled a hand-held device out of her pack and took some basic readings.

“Dial ‘er up, Daniel!” the Colonel prodded.

“Sir, wait.”  She watched out of the corner of her eye as the colonel shifted his glance between her and the village elders.

“Sam,” he said quietly, “we get out of here now.”

She looked at him with the shift in his tone.  She followed his eyes.  Eduan and Baurton were advancing towards them.

Baurton indicated the device in her hands. “Does your machine tell you what is happening?”

Sam looked at the colonel before answering.  He shrugged, so she answered. “Well, see this spike?” She turned the device so he could see the small LCD screen. Baurton nodded. “That is a rise in the number of free-floating molecules of the unknown metal in the air. And that one,” she pointed to the opposite side of the screen, “is the electromagnetic resonance from what I can only assume is the same metal. These are the highest spikes I’ve seen so far.”

“So is a volcano about to blow or what, Carter?” O’Neill badgered.

She shook her head emphatically. “No, sir. The seismic activity I’ve been recording is occurring between the ionosphere and surface of this planet.”

“And that means what, exactly?”

“Something is interfering with the planet’s geomagnetism.”

“And you think that something is the metal?”

“Well, sir, it’s my best guess right now.”

“Carter, I’ll take your best guess over somebody’s definitely any day.” He turned back to Daniel in time to miss her flush over his offhanded praise. “Why are you still not dialing, Daniel?”

“You cannot leave, Colonel O’Neill,” Eduan interrupted.

Sam bit her lip as the colonel raised an eyebrow at the man. She knew that look and it didn’t mean he was idly curious. Behind the colonel, Teal’c’s grip on his staff weapon shifted. He didn’t prime the weapon, but Sam could see his hands were in position to do so. Daniel shot concerned glances between the village elders squared off with O’Neill, Teal’c’s defensive position, and the DHD.

The colonel took a deep breath and Sam just knew he was about to say something to the religious leader it would probably be better he didn’t.  Apparently Daniel thought so, too, because he warned the older man with a low, “Jack.” O’Neill threw a look over his shoulder Sam was glad to not be the recipient of, but he checked whatever it was he was about to say.

“Edoon,” O’Neill started.

The religious leader narrowed his eyes.

“Ed, ew, on,” Sam enunciated the syllables clearly and quietly.

“Eduan,” the colonel tried again and spread his hands in manufactured supplication, “The SGC would be happy to help if there was something we thought we could do but Carter here says it’s due to the—“

“We do wish for your help, Colonel,” Eduan interrupted, “but we will not be needing anything more than what is already here.”

“Sir, I don’t have the necessary supplies or equipment to study this further,” Sam interjected.

“You misunderstand,” Eduan said with certainty.  “This problem, it is not scientific as your machines suggest.  Our gods have made known their preference; the ritual begun by Nenetl shall be seen through to its end.”

“Gods?” Sam questioned, being the first any had been mentioned despite the presence of a religious leader and temple.

“Ritual?” Jack asked warily while eyeing the little girl he’d smiled fondly at just a couple of hours before.

Some of the village men, a few of whom had only joined the elders since the stop in the first field, had moved around the group and situated themselves between SG-1 and the gate.

“Uh, Jack?”

“Daniel?” the colonel asked without taking his eyes off Eduan and Baurton.

“I think they’re serious about not leaving.”

O’Neill looked back towards the gate.  Sure enough, six very large and muscular men were standing guard.  Teal’c turned, identified the threat, and primed his weapon.  The village men radiated tension, unarmed as they were.

“Wait a minute, Teal’c,” the colonel implored with a practiced calm that always made Sam’s blood run a little cold.  “I’m sure one of these nice gentlemen would like to explain what is going on.”

“As my… _esteemed brother_ … has already said,” Baurton began in a way that gave the impression the man didn’t hold Eduan in esteem at all, “you will not be leaving us now.”  Baurton looked pointedly at the device in Sam’s hands.  “There are a few things that must be tended to.”

“What ritual?” O’Neill questioned again.

“Your tlālli marriage,” Eduan said as if it should have been obvious.

“ _Lolly_ marriage?” the colonel attempted.  “What the h—“

“Jack!” Daniel interjected.

Colonel O’Neill took a deep breath.  “What kind of marriage?”

“Tlālli,” Ohara spoke up.  “A marriage born of the earth and elements.”

“As opposed to…”

“Do your people have but one kind of marriage?” she questioned.

“Well, yeah,” O’Neill said.  “I mean, two people, a priest…” he snapped the fingers of one hand then the other before smacking with one fist with the heel of his other hand, “done deal.”

“You have unions that are not heart matches, though, do you not?”

“I think she means arranged marriages.”

“Thank you, Daniel.”

“Here, you marry for the elements or you may marry as the gods decree.  Nenetl has begun the tlālli ritual for you and your captain, Colonel O’Neill.  It is a great honor.”

“She’s seven years old, for cryin’ out loud!” he exclaimed as if _that_ were the most worrisome part of the whole thing.

“Our people are quite adept at recognizing tlālli matches,” Ohara attempted to soothe.

“Marriage?” Sam finally asked, her concern breaking through her confusion during the rapid-fire conversation.

“I think there’s been some kind of mistake,” Daniel tried.

“There has been no mistake,” Eduan halted all the conversation with his deep and decisive voice.  Another tremor shook the ground.  “The gods have made their desires known.  The ritual will be completed before they see fit to shake the buildings from their pilings.”

Baurton turned his attention back to Sam’s hand-held and pointed at the screen.  “This spike is the tremor we just felt, no?”

“Yes.  And here,” she pointed, “is the associated spike in airborne particles of the metal.”  She dimly registered the colonel fussing about tlālli matches.

Baurton spoke to her quietly so as not to be overheard.  “You believe these tremors to be the work of this metal.”

“Yes,” she said as if it were obvious.

Baurton threw a casual looking nod towards the men near the gate.  They shifted and closed ranks, forming a solid wall between SG-1 and the DHD.  He spoke strongly. “Then, as Eduan has requested, you will stay.”

“Requested?”  O’Neill questioned incredulously.

“We have more weaponry than these people, O’Neill,” Teal’c observed in that way he had of making veiled threats.

“We can’t _kill_ them, Teal’c,” Daniel.

“Shut up, Daniel,” O’Neill warned.

“You can’t seriously be—“

“Daniel,” Sam warned quietly with a shake of her head.  She didn’t like the idea of blasting her way out any more than Daniel did, but she’d quickly learned the tones in commanding officers’ voices and Colonel O’Neill’s left no room for challenge.

The colonel made a quick risk assessment – the men standing in front of the DHD; the children and other villagers nearby in the tall grass; the large and unpredictable man standing next to Sam; the religious leader and his regal wife. Sam could see it right away – the risk of civilian casualty was too great.  They weren’t going to be fighting their way off the planet.  Not at that moment, anyway.

After looking around and then taking three deep breaths for the kind of good measure meant to keep the other side off-kilter, O’Neill spoke.  “We need to check in with our superior officer.  If we don’t, they’ll send more people with weapons through the gate and things might not go so well after that.”

“You will communicate via your radio,” Eduan indicated the comm unit on the colonel’s shoulder he’d seen used several times over the course of SG-1’s week-long visit.

“Fine,” O’Neill said.  “One more time, Daniel.  Dial ‘er, up.”

********

An hour after they were supposed to have been home, the members of SG-1 found themselves letting their packs fall next to the beds they’d vacated that morning.  The colonel and Teal’c were somewhere talking strategy and Daniel had already gone back to what amounted to a library but that the Rorilians referred to as Scholar’s Hall.  Sam had fired up her laptop, thankful she’d requested backup batteries from the SGC along with some more advanced equipment she could use to further examine the effects of the unknown metal on the planet’s electromagnetic stability.  It would take several hours for the SGC to pull her requested items together and then she’d walk the nearly four miles to the gate.  Again.

It didn’t matter, really; she had a couple hours’ worth of test parameters to write before she could put the new equipment to work, anyway.  Not twenty minutes had passed when Eduan swept into the kitchen of the small home she was working in.  It was the only room in the house with a table big enough for her to set up her computer and enough sheets of paper to make notes without having to keep shuffling things around.

“Captain Carter, there are attendants available for you in the temple rooms.  You must be appropriately attired for the rituals.”

Sam looked at him uncertainly.  “My orders are to design and run the necessary tests before nightfall and to check back in with the General.  I understand your rituals are important to you,” she attempted to placate, “but I’m not at liberty to disobey my superiors.”  She congratulated herself on her restraint.  What she’d really wanted to do was tell him where exactly he could shove his marriage rituals.  She liked Nenetl, she did, but she could have throttled the girl for starting what was turning into an interplanetary incident. 

Eduan was visibly taken aback by her flat refusal to do his bidding and he huffed and swept back out of the room.  No doubt, she figured, to find Colonel O’Neill and beseech him to order Sam to comply.  _Ha!_ she thought, _unlikely._ If he’d initially been amused by Nenetl’s game, he’d quickly changed his tune when Hammond had extended their mission by at least twelve hours.  The General had spoken the carefully coded phrase that alerted SG-1 they should play along to ensure their safety but not commit to anything that might cause further interest.  If the Rorilians were at all concerned the man in charge of an extraterrestrial exploration team was suddenly interested in what team won a game they’d never heard of, well, they didn’t show it.

She’d just recovered from Eduan’s last visit and begun making more progress when he returned.  “Your Colonel O’Neill does not seem to understand the seriousness of this situation, Captain.  Perhaps you could explain it to him.”

Oh, she recognized the veiled threat but she got more than a little thrill when she told him, “Daniel’s in charge of cultural exchanges.  He’d probably be more useful, under the circumstances.”

Eduan leveled a look at her that surely caused more than one village female to bow to his demands.  She wasn’t his average village female.

She wasn’t altogether surprised when Eduan’s wife appeared nearly an hour later.  Ohara floated into the room in a cloud of lavender and sweet grass that had put Sam instantly at ease when she’d met the woman a week prior.  She wore her social status like she wore her hair: a loose and flowing beautiful thing with which she didn’t concern herself too much.  She pulled a stool across the room to the other side of the table Sam was working at, collected her long robes around herself, and slid onto the seat.

“My husband does not quite know what to do with you, Captain Carter.”

“He wouldn’t be the first,” Sam observed and erased a variable from an equation on a nearly full sheet of paper.

“You are resistant to the tlālli marriage.”

“I’m resistant to all marriage, Ohara, it’s nothing personal.”

“So you are likewise uninterested in…how do you call a trabaho marriage?”

Sam shook her head.  “I don’t know what that word means.”

“It is a,” Ohara twirled her hand in the air, “relationship for the benefit of business.”

“Oh.  Well, no.  Not one of those, either.”

“Are you already married?”

Sam sighed.  “No.  Where I come from, I don’t have to be married.”

“I suspect your hesitation comes from more than our cultural differences, tuhiha.”

The familiar appellation made Sam smile.  Daniel had explained it was a conceptual word describing someone else’s daughter but that the Rorilians used as a term of affection for women.  The language, to his delight, shared many similarities with the Nahuatl language of the Aztec peoples of Earth. 

Sam pushed her bangs back off her forehead and sat back on her stool, abandoning her work for the moment.  “I was almost married, once.”

“You do not wish to marry that man now, though.”

Sam laughed derisively.  “Absolutely not.  I couldn’t marry him anyway,” she said with a slight shake of her head, then pursed her lips.  “He’s been dead a while now.”

“I am sorry, Samantha,” Ohara said and covered Sam’s hand with her own.

“Thank you, but I’m not.  Not really.  He was…he was not a good man.  He demanded power over people and he didn’t deserve it.”

“And yet you agreed to marry him?  It was a trabaho match?”

Sam shook her head.  “No.  No, it was…I chose him.  Well, he chose me.”

“Your Colonel O’Neill…is he a good man?”

Sam looked at Ohara, slightly taken aback.  “I think so.  I don’t know him, really.  Not as anything other than my commanding officer.”

“He is fair?  Kind?”

Ohara looked out the window and smiled.  Sam followed her gaze and watched as the colonel dropped to a knee in front of Nenetl and spoke to her firmly.  The little girl looked sad, but not frightened, and he laid a heavy hand on the crown of her head, stroked the side of her face, and then tugged the end of her long hair playfully.  He said something else and the little girls smiled.

“Sure.  I guess,” Sam allowed.

“So, he would make a good husband?” The question drew Sam’s attention back into the kitchen.

“I’m sure he would, but—“

“And yet you are resistant to marrying him though Nenetl has proclaimed you to be a tlālli match.”

“About that,” Sam deflected, “she’s just a child and she’s hardly spent any time with either of us.  How would she be able to make that kind of prediction?”

“It is said there are girls born of each generation who can see into the hearts of our people.  Most all of our unions are trabaho.  A lucky few are gifted with tlālli unions.  My parents were among those,” Ohara revealed with pride.

“In this case,” Sam said gently, “I’m afraid she’s wrong.  Even if the colonel and I _were_ a tlālli match, the regulations we are bound by prohibit a relationship between us.”

“There are exceptions to rules, tuhiha.”

Sam’s focus slipped back to the courtyard where the colonel was accepting a handful of the little white flowers from Nenetl.  Sam ripped her gaze away from her commanding officer before she started thinking of him as a man.  “Anyway, I’m a scientist, Ohara. You’re better off allowing me to solve your problems with this,” she said while waving a hand across the table full of her work, “than you are by making me a wife.”

“I do not believe that to be true, Samantha,” Ohara said, surprising Sam with the use of her given name.  She stood and conceded with a smile, “But my beliefs are not yours.”

At the door, Ohara turned and offered one last piece of advice.  “My husband, he will not be swayed.  Our gods have decreed you will be married by way of the ancient rites or our village will suffer.  Eduan is a man of many convictions, his belief in our gods chief among them.  If you want to see your science through, perhaps you should allow him his rites.  Consider it a… _cultural exchange_ ,” she finished and departed leaving only the dusty smell of lavender and confusion in her wake.

********

Despite the extra laptop batteries and equipment, at eight thirty that night Sam admitted she didn’t have anything remotely helpful.  She knew the metal she’d detected occurred frequently but randomly throughout the mountain formations, she knew microscopic particles of the metal were released into the air each time a tremor shook the village, and she knew those particles were interacting with the ionosphere causing more tremors and perpetuating the cycle.  While the tremors were still slight and infrequent, they’d been strong enough to dislodge the lumber scaffolding from outside the weights and measures building.  The unfinished building was still standing, but both the colonel and Teal’c had questioned how long that might be, as the footings hadn’t yet had a chance to settle.

As the day had worn on, the tremors continued – one every three hours or so.  Eduan had grown increasingly agitated with her reluctance to enter the temple and be _attended to_. 

At one point Daniel had come in, his arms full of books, and told her the marriage rites consisted of eight phases – one of which she’d already undergone – but the rites could be completed fairly quickly if she’d just…  She hadn’t let him finish because she was not going to, under any circumstances, marry Colonel O’Neill.  Not even for pretend.  That was the _last_ thing she needed.  _Honestly_.  It was a gross violation of fraternization regulations, but if it weren’t, it wouldn’t matter.  She wasn’t remotely ready to begin contemplating what marriage might mean.  Not to a man she didn’t know.  Most certainly not after what she’d nearly gotten herself into by thinking about it so little the first time around.

Around six o’clock the colonel had grasped her shoulders and physically turned her away from her equipment.  He waved something heavenly smelling and vaguely taco-like under her nose.  She’d eaten it in four large bites while he laughed at her and she remembered she hadn’t stopped for lunch despite more than fifteen miles of hiking to the gate and back that day.  She licked the juices of some tasty local animal off the side of her hand and got back to work.  Five minutes later, another hunk of meat wrapped in the thin, flexible cornbread appeared at her elbow.

Trudging back to the gate that night in the last slivers of dual-sunlight, Daniel made his case to the officers.  He spoke quietly to avoid involving their escorts, Baurton’s men, in the conversation.  “I know it isn’t exactly what you want to do, but if you’d just consider going through the marriage rites you could buy yourself enough time to do some more research.”

“Daniel, I don’t want to hear it,” the colonel replied. 

Sam happened to agree.  “I don’t have time for that, Daniel.  The data suggests the tremors are going to get stronger and more frequent as more particles are released into the air.”

“Well, they’re not going to let us leave until you two get married.”

“We can’t leave,” Sam exclaimed a little too loudly. _Daniel_ shushed her.  “We can’t leave,” she hissed.  “If I’m right, the tremors could destroy the village.”

“So you want to what, Carter?  Save them?  They’re holding us hostage.  Besides, we suggested evacuation earlier and it was a non-starter.”

“It’s not like they’re mistreating us, sir,” she pointed out.  “If I could just have a little more time I might be able to find a solution.”  Sam recalled her earlier conversation with Ohara.  “If we played along, sir, it might buy us enough time.”  As she heard the words coming out of her mouth she was trying to shove them back in.  “Of course, there’s got to be another way to—“

“I think Sam’s right, Jack,” clearly both pleased and confused Sam had come around to his way of thinking.

_Shut up, Daniel._

Colonel O’Neill stopped walking and turned around to face Sam and Daniel.  “You,” he said pointing at Daniel, “really think the best way to handle this is to buy time by going through with this marriage crap?”  Daniel nodded.  “And you,” the colonel pointed next to Sam, “ _agree_ with him.”

“Well, sir,” she hedged, “what are we going to do there, exactly?”  She waved ahead towards the gate.  “We’re going to tell the General I haven’t figured it out yet and that the Rorilians have taken our weapons and we’re not obliged to leave.  _Then_ we’re going to tell him we recommend _against_ sending a rescue party through the gate as we’re not actually in any danger.  Right?”

His eyes narrowed at her and she knew she was pushing her luck.  He graced her with an answer, though.  “Your point, Captain?”

“My point, sir,” she said with as much aggrieved sigh as she felt she could get away with, “is if we at least _pretend_ we’re going to go along with it, we might be able to buy enough time to figure out what’s going on here.”

“How much danger are we in if we stick around?”

He asked the question and she already knew she’d won.  She tried not to smile; besides, winning meant trying to solve a problem she couldn’t wrap her head around yet while simultaneously pretending to marry her commanding officer – who was, incidentally, a man she barely knew.  Yes, winning was a relative term under the current circumstances.

“Right now, sir, it’s difficult to say.  The tremors are currently only registering between 2.0 and 2.7 on the seismograph.”

“Meaning…” he led.

“Meaning we’re not in any danger, sir.  At least not yet.”

The colonel turned around and set back off towards the gate.  “How long?”

Sam attempted to grimace but ended up grinning; it was a puzzle and despite the other challenges, she was going to get to try to solve it.  “Three days?” she asked.  It was less than she thought she’d need, but she’d already learned to push by degrees when it came to Colonel O’Neill.

“Fine,” he said and dug the heels of his boots hard into the trail with each step towards the gate.  “Three days, Captain.”

_Three days_ , she thought.  _Oh boy._   Well, how married could they get in three days, anyway?


	2. Chapter 2

Sam took a seat next to Daniel on the wooden bleacher-type benches in what amounted to the village’s town hall. He jostled her and fidgeted in an attempt to find a comfortable position with two heavy volumes on his lap. Why he needed them, Sam wasn’t sure. It wasn’t that he hadn’t explained; Sam’s focus had been reserved solely for her equipment as the first of the three days the Colonel had promised her faded into dusk.

The colonel collapsed onto the bench next to her. His black t-shirt and skin were warm from the suns.  He was panting slightly and, when she looked at him, she could see the hair at his temples was dark with sweat.  She handed him the half-empty bottle of water from between her feet.

He took it, drained it, and then dragged the back of his hand across his mouth.  After a few deep breaths, he turned one eye on her.  “Your equipment is heavy, Carter.”

Before she could ask, he and Teal’c began moving her magnetic particle inspection equipment to the makeshift laboratory space she’d been granted. The borrowed unit from the SGC was large and, as the colonel had pointed out, quite heavy as it was designed as a stationary unit.  While they had transported the component pieces from the gate to the village by cart, moving the pieces from the house where they’d been temporarily stored to the temple had been a task best done by hand – specifically, two hands attached to Jaffa-sized muscles and the colonel’s for good measure.  Really, she thought he probably jumped into that task because it was something to do besides sit and watch her do research.

He’d surprised her, actually, by appointing himself the person in charge of making sure she ate each meal and drank her fair share of the local fruit juice that came out of something that looked like a beet but tasted a little like a carroty banana.  That fantastic meat from the day before had shown up again in her breakfast – shredded into the batter of a savory pancake-like thing that she’d probably dream about once Rorilia was nothing more than a distant memory. He’d brought her lunch and dinner, too, chuckling when she screwed her face up at the fruit-salad-with-grits thing that had been supper. 

She didn’t know how Daniel had been faring, but considering she’d seen little of Teal’c, she imagined that the colonel had assigned the Jaffa to the archaeologist and that Teal’c was providing a similar service. Sam and Daniel’s predisposition for skipping meals, sleep, and showers in deference to their work had preceded them by quite a margin after only the first handful of weeks on the team. Since then, their reputations had only gotten worse.

He leaned over, his chest pressed hard against her thigh, and it took her aback for a moment before she realized he was reaching for Daniel’s water as well, his fingers scrabbling against the edge of the plastic bottle. Daniel looked up distractedly, nudged the bottle with the side of his foot until it tipped into the colonel’s hand, and then went back to his books.  Sometimes the two of them communicated in a way that made her wonder just what exactly happened on Abydos that made two incredibly different guys sync up the way they did.  Oh, she’d witnessed some head butting between them, but their connection was clear. It was sweet and comforting, in a way, to know the hard-nosed colonel was capable of that kind of bond, but it made her feel like an outsider.

Behind the three of them, Teal’c claimed a seat. She looked over her shoulder at him and smiled.  He nodded, but that ever-present frown on his face left her feeling a little unsettled. The big man’s deep voice and formidable skills were in direct conflict with the gentle nature she’d judged him to have. 

Surrounded by her team – all of whom individually left her feeling vaguely unbalanced at any given moment – she felt settled for the first time since she’d stepped into the hall where Eduan, Baurton and Ohara were having a quiet but heated discussion.

The colonel squeezed the second empty water bottles after he’d finished it.  The foreign sound of crinkling plastic drew the gazes of the surrounding villagers and Sam quietly took the bottle from him and had to check a grin at the slight pout that pulled at his mouth and then settled between his eyebrows.  It suddenly occurred to her that he was always in motion. She handed the bottle back but admonished him with a “shhh” and when he smiled at her, really smiled, she realized that he truly was a very dangerous guy.  If she were any other girl, that smile might mean trouble.

But she wasn’t any other girl.  She was just the girl he would pretend to marry so she could buy enough time to figure out what was happening to the Rorilian people’s planet.

At the front of the room, Eduan stood. The quiet murmurings of the villagers fell silent.  “I have gathered you here,” he began with authority, “to ensure we move forward as one mind. The village, it is being shaken! The teachings say that the gods have made it clear what is expected of us and that when we disobey, their displeasure will be known with speed and strength we should fear. We should fear now. We should fear because our fates are in the hands of these outsiders.”  He swept his hand out in a grand gesture that, when accompanied with his booming and haughty voice, put Sam in mind of televangelists.

His voice softened.  “But I am told I should not worry.  I am told that the ones who have angered the gods will bring peaceful rest back to our village.”

“Hey, wait a minute,” the colonel interjected, “ _we_ didn’t start anything.”

“You will choose to see things in your manner, Colonel O’Neill,” Eduan said in a way that made it clear that he placed the blame for the current situation solely on the colonel’s and Sam’s own shoulders. “But the fact remains, the ritual, once begun, must be completed.  And you have agreed to complete the rituals, have you not?”

Sam shot a glance at the colonel.  He cleared his throat uncomfortably.  “Yeah.  We agree.”

“And yet it’s been more than a day and Captain Carter still has not ventured to the temple to be attended to.”

“She has been tending to her machines,” Baurton said. His voice dripped with a vitriol that stained his handsome face.

Sam was momentarily flummoxed.  This was the same man who had, just the day before, all but demanded she use those same _machines_ to determine what was happening to the planet.  Then, though, Baurton shot a glance at Eduan’s back that could have melted tungsten.  Something was at play between the two men, she was sure of it.  Not knowing what it was, though, meant she was still in as delicate position as she’d been in before.  Baurton met her eye and while the look therein was not malicious, it was cool, calculating and more than a little confusing. 

“She will be allowed time to consider her science, Eduan, you have agreed.”

He had?  Sam wondered just how much she’d missed while she’d spent the day holed up with her data. Quick glances at the colonel and then at Daniel showed neither one of them were aware they’d been the subjects of debate, either.

“She will be married,” he said angrily and banged a fist onto the table.  Ohara murmured to him, he took a deep breath and then opened his mouth to continue. He didn’t get the chance.

“ _She_ is doctor of things that are going to save your asses,” the colonel jumped to her defense with more vigor than she really thought the situation warranted. “And _she_ isn’t the only one you need to marry off.  So maybe you shouldn’t piss off _her_ fiancé.”

When Sam was able to wrench her eyes from her commanding officer, whose vehemence had forced him to stand, she was surprised to find Ohara sitting between the two feuding Rorilians with a small smile playing around her mouth.

“Jack,” Daniel said quietly and reached in front of Sam to touch the colonel’s wrist with just the tips of his fingers. The colonel looked down at Daniel, his dark eyes flashing with intensity.

“Perhaps all of you should take a moment to gain perspective,” Ohara said and Sam would have sworn she heard humor in the other woman’s voice. “Eduan, Colonel O’Neill, please sit and discuss this as learned men.  Anger will get us nowhere beyond this room.”

“We have placed the fate of our people and our village in the hands of two people who do not care to save it,” Eduan complained.

“Perhaps it is that they do not share your opinion that your gods will tumble your city down to rubble,” Baurton interjected.

“That would be a boon for your cause, would it not, Baurton? Perhaps you push where you should not.”

“I choose to seek a solution wherever there might be one.”

“As do I, my esteemed brother,” Eduan spit. “With whatever tools might be at my disposal.”

“Tools beyond teachings will be our salvation.” Baurton said and whispers moved through the crowd.

Sam’s head was beginning to ache as she tried to follow what was surely years’ worth of undercurrent being revealed by the current situation.

“Colonel O’Neill and Captain Carter have agreed to you your terms, Eduan.  It will not be the end of the village to allow them to reconcile their own customs to ours.” Ohara met Sam’s eyes once again. Sam was suddenly sure Ohara heard things Sam couldn’t say during their conversation the day before.

********

The next morning she was up and out of her temporary quarters before the second sun had risen.  The promise of a new lab and overnight data from the magnetic particle inspector were a siren’s call too loud to deny.  She wound her way through the back hallways of the surprisingly intricate temple and, when she pushed the heavy door into the room she’d been given, she was shocked to find the colonel sitting there on a stool with two cups of kevvi and one of the fruit pastries she’d eyed after the town hall meeting the night before but hadn’t had the appetite for.

“If you were much later you’d have come in to crumbs,” he quipped.

“You showed marvelous restraint, sir,” she said with a quick grin. 

He waited for her to wake up her laptop before he pushed the pastry in her direction.  “Breakfast now, data later.”

“This will only—“

“Ack!  Captain? Breakfast _is_ the most important meal of the day.”

“There’s some debate about that, sir.” She said, but she still lifted the pastry to her mouth and took a bite.  A bright flavor that vaguely resembled citrus burst across her tongue and tantalized her taste buds.  “Oh my god,” she groaned.

“Good, right?” he asked with a grin.

“That’s really amazing.”

“I should get extra points for not eating it even after knowing how good it is.”

“You’d have denied me the most important meal of the day?” she feigned shock.

“Well, I hear there’s some debate about that.”

They smiled at each other just a moment too long and Sam remembered she wasn’t supposed to make friends with him.  He was her CO, nothing more.  She wasn’t supposed to make friends with _any_ of them.  Do the job, be a team, save each other’s asses, go home, and get some of _whatever_ you need from somebody who isn’t your teammate. _Preferably_ , she added based on her personal experiences, _from somebody who isn’t military_.

He watched her closely, she noticed out of the corner of her eye, as she ate with one hand and pecked at keys on her laptop with the other. When, at one point, she relinquished the pastry for the hot cup of kevvi, he reached over and broke off a corner of flaky crust and popped it into his mouth.  She pushed the plate across the table to him and he accepted it eagerly before she went back to her data.

“Learn anything interesting?” he asked her around a mouthful of her purloined breakfast.

In fact, there was a lot of interesting information on her screen.  She may have only been under him for a few months, but she’d already learned his limited tolerance for her scientific ramblings.  “You want the Cliff’s Notes version?”

“Please.”

“The free-floating particles of UME-001—“

“UME?  Seriously, that’s what you’re calling it?”

“Yes, sir.  Unknown Metallic Element.”

“Boring.”

“I’m sorry, what?”

“That’s a boring name, Carter.”

“Well, what would you rather I called it?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” he cast about, “something snazzy. Like…Rorilium.”

“Rorilium?”

“Sure.  Why not?”

“We don’t just get to name things, sir. There’s a process.”

“Hey, you discovered it.  I could have suggested Carterium.”

“I think UME-001 will be just fine for now, sir.”

“Boring,” he huffed again once more under his breath before popping the last bite of the pastry into his mouth.

“Anyway,” she said and tried not to roll her eyes, “the free-floating particles of UME-001 _are_ showing spikes in their detectable levels that coincide with the tremors. That, along with seismic readings that indicate strengthening tremors as the overall UME levels rise and interact with the ionosphere, leads me to the conclusion that the metallic element is where I should be concentrating my research.”

“And then what?”

“Sir?”

“Well, what happens when you figure out how UME-001 is interacting with the iono-whatever?”

“Sphere,” she corrected automatically. She shrugged, “Well, I figure out how to stop it.”

“We have told you how to stop it, Captain Carter,” Eduan said as he stepped through the open door into the temporary lab.

Sam sighed and tried not to notice the instant grimace that the colonel had adopted as soon as the older man had come into the room. She channeled as much of Daniel as she could muster.  “I understand your religion is very specific about the ceremony Nenetl began the day before yesterday, but my equipment is picking up quite a bit of activity that can be explained by the increased presence of this metal in your air.”

“Put there by the gods, no doubt, to show their displeasure. Displeasure, I will remind you, which can be assuaged only by the completion of the ritual tlālli marriage you have both agreed to.”

“Yeah, yeah, we will.  But Carter’s got a lot of fancy information there that says there’s more going on than a couple of angry gods.”

“Sir,” Sam said quietly, in hopes the colonel would understand she was admonishing him for his marked lack of diplomacy.

The colonel took a deep breath and scrubbed a hand down his face.  “Eduan. Captain Carter is smart. Really smart,” he frowned. “Smarter than all the rest of us put together.”

“Sir—“

“Now’s not the time for modesty, Carter.” He turned his attention back towards Eduan. “We’ll get to your ceremony, but she wouldn’t be putting it off if it wasn’t important.  And Daniel mentioned there were a bunch of pre-wedding… _things_ …that needed to be done?”

Sam kept a half an ear on the colonel’s conversation as she scanned over the rest of the overnight data.  Apparently, he was happy enough to deflect Eduan’s attention for the time being.  In truth, he’d run a fair bit of interference since the whole thing started. Apparently he was no more anxious to pretend to marry her than she was to marry him.   Despite the circumstances, she couldn’t help a slight pang of _well, why not? What’s wrong with me, anyway?_ Besides, it’s not as if they were pretending to get married; they were pretending they’d pretend to marry. Suddenly she was very confused and it had nothing to do with the exponential numbers on her computer screen.

She flicked her glance back up to the colonel who was looking obstinately at Eduan.  She chanced a look at Eduan and found him studying her intently and then shifting his eyes towards the colonel.  He looked like he was assessing them.  Great. What had she missed? She couldn’t help the frisson of nerves that skittered up her spine.  _This_ is precisely why she was supposed to pay attention to everything.

“Right, Carter?”

She looked at the colonel, dumbfounded. _Right, what?_   He tilted his head toward her a little, shot her a tight smile, softened his eyes – she’d have sworn it – he _knew_ she hadn’t really been paying attention.

“Yes, sir,” she finally decided.  “That’s right.”

“She shouldn’t need more than…what?  Two more days?”

“Oh.  Well, theoretically, I should be able to—“

“Fine.”  Eduan cut her off. “This day and the next. If by then she has not been seen by the attendants, she will be sent for.”

“Hey,” the colonel bristled but Eduan cut him off.

“You are in no position to posture, Colonel O’Neill. She will have her two days.” Eduan turned back to Sam. “My wife tells me you are concerned about Earth rules that prohibit your marriage to Colonel O’Neill.”

Sam struggled to contain her groan and couldn’t help but look guiltily at the colonel.  His eyebrow was raised in what she could only guess was confusion and, possibly, some amusement if the tip up at the corner of his lips meant anything. She opened her mouth to reply but when the words didn’t rush forth, Eduan continued.

“And, perhaps, your heart belongs to another man you were supposed to marry.”

She looked back at the colonel, his face suddenly pulled into a moue.

She watched him carefully as she replied, suddenly fascinated with the range of emotions she saw around his eyes.  “My objections to marrying the colonel have nothing to do with my former engagement.  And Ohara was right. There _are_ regulations that prohibit the development of a personal relationship between the two of us.”  She watched as the colonel’s gaze dropped to the floor.  She shifted her attention to Eduan so she wouldn’t have to see the colonel’s reaction to her next revelation – that she wasn’t, perhaps, as stoic as she should have been when it came to the development of personal relationships with her teammates.  “But, I’m objecting because there’s a _purely_ scientific explanation for what’s happening here.  We can attempt to appease your gods all we like, but no amount of inappropriate behavior between me and Colonel O’Neill is going to be the answer.”

Eduan pierced her with a look.  “You will be married, Captain Carter, as the teachings of my people decree.  You have visited the possibility of ruin upon my village and that will not be tolerated. I have held my temper to this point and I will honor the two days your colonel has requested. But do not push me further, girl; I will not have it.”

Sam felt herself flush with anger as she was admonished like a child by a man who didn’t know her.  The colonel took a step towards her despite the table that separated them. “Sam,” he said quietly and shook his head once when she met his eye.

Eduan swept out of the room in a whirlwind of brown and bone-colored robes.  She was concentrating hard on regulating her breathing and cooling her ire.  The colonel was considering her carefully, his head tilted a little to the side as if she was a conundrum he couldn’t quite figure out. “So, where’d you zone out to?”

“I’m sorry, sir?”

“You checked out of that conversation for a little while. Where’d you go?”

She shook her head, unwilling to share her inner-conflict with him.  “Nowhere, sir. What did I miss?”

“More of the same.  And a little tlālli pressure.”

“Tlālli,” she scoffed.  “Right.  What makes a seven year old girl think we’re such a good match, anyway?”

“I don’t know Carter,” he said and then pushed himself away from the table and towards the door.  He threw his last words over his shoulder before he left.  “But I think you’re probably a catch.” 

********

“Is it just me, or is Eduan a little less hospitable than he used to be?”  Daniel asked as he plopped down at the picnic table that SG-1 had appropriated by the well.

The colonel grunted noncommittally and shoved another bite of the Rorilian porridge into his mouth.

“I’ve got only today to figure out why UME-001 reacts the way it does with the ionosphere and figure out how to stop it.”

“I’m sure Jack would give you more time if—“

The colonel spoke around a mouthful, “Not my mandate, Daniel.”

“It kind of was.”

Sam shook her head.  “Eduan implied he’d force my participation if it came to that.” She took a sip of kevvi and pushed her porridge around in her bowl with her spoon.  “Have you found out anything else about the marriage ceremony?”

“Just the eight quick phases thing.  I’ve been concentrating on the books that mention the tremors.”

“Books, _plural_?”

“Yeah,” he said, his excitement mounting. “Some of the books are very old and in a different dialect of the language.  It’s interesting, actually.  The older language appears more nuanced with structural dissimilarities that are typically found as a language _e_ volves.”

“Doesn’t sound interesting to me,” the colonel put in.

“It’s interesting,” Daniel said with exasperation before stealing the colonel’s untouched cup of kevvi, “because the Rorilian language seems to have devolved – at least, according to what we know about the evolution of languages – since these texts were written.  Some of them are almost a thousand years old!”

“So?”

“So…I don’t know yet, Jack.  That’s why I’m going back today.  Right now as a matter of fact.”

Daniel hadn’t made it three steps away from the table when the colonel stopped him and tossed him a piece of fruit that he’d produced from who knows where, probably one of his cargo pockets.  “Breakfast.”

Daniel shot him a pleased, crooked smile and headed off towards Scholar’s Hall.

Sam took the opportunity to gather up the notes she’d brought with her to the breakfast table.  She’d pushed herself up off the bench and had almost made her getaway.

“Carter, sit.  Pushing your food around in the bowl isn’t eating it,” the colonel admonished.

She sighed and checked the impulse to tell her commanding officer she was a grown woman and could look after herself, especially since she’d given him ample proof that there were times that was untrue. “It doesn’t agree with me, sir. I’ll grab a power bar from my bag on my way to the lab.”

“Carter.”

Dammit.  She knew that tone of voice.  That was his ‘I’m going to be serious for a few minutes’ voice.   _That_ meant she couldn’t just blow him off.  She sat back down. “Yes, sir?”

“This is day three; we need to assess. How about a sitrep, Captain?”

She couldn’t help but deflate a little. “Well, sir…  I know that the metal is interacting with the ionosphere.”

“Even _I_ know that by now.  What else you got?”

“What I’ve got doesn’t make much sense. This metal is somehow exciting the ionosphere and interrupting the expected ionization of free negative electrons. We’d expect to see those electrons interacting with the positive ions that are a result of the suns’ radiation.”

“Carter—“ he said, strained, and she knew she was reaching the edge of how much science he was willing to endure.

“Right.  Simultaneously, we’re experiencing tremors that are, right now, benign. Nevertheless, they’re increasing in intensity and coinciding with spikes of the levels of the metals in the atmosphere. I’m going to have to float a sensor balloon to take more specific ionospheric readings.”

“So, you need more equipment from the SGC.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Do we actually _have_ this equipment?”

“Yes, sir.  We’ve recently brought a meteorologist on staff.  And prior to that we’ve had two geologists.”

“Right.  And you’re going to want to stick around here to fiddle with your equipment a little more?”

“Yes, sir.”  They both knew that meant he’d be the one making the hike to the gate.

“Okay.  Make me a list; I’ll go check in with Hammond.  You do what you need to so we don’t have to get hitched.”

She grinned.  “I thought you said I was a catch, sir.”

“Carter, a guy like me catches a woman like you, he’s got more than he can handle.”

She felt herself blush.  She knew it was just his way of deflecting, but it was sweet in a way she wasn’t used to.  It was also uncomfortable to think about him as a man who thought about her as a woman. She’d assumed he was largely unaware of her gender despite the fact that one of the first things he’d done was flash her that slow, provocative smile and tell her he _liked women_.  She wasn’t naïve; she knew what that implied.  She also knew that the key to that conversation was that she wasn’t a woman; she was a scientist – as if, somehow, the two couldn’t exist together. Since that time, she’d taken the little flirts and compliments as facets of his personality and she hadn’t thought anymore about it.

Until...until she’d had to lay bare the failings of her personal life and he’d been surprisingly un-Jack-O’Neill-like about the whole thing. She hadn’t gotten into the specifics with him, but based on her history and his clearance level, it wouldn’t have taken him long to find out that the troubles between her and Jonas had made it all the way to their respective CO’s offices and why, exactly, a man of Jonas’ age and education had a PCS to the SGC as a captain rather than a major.

A flurry of activity pulled her attention away from the colonel and she could feel the heat drain out of her face as soon as she broke his gaze. 

The main road through the village ran outward from the courtyard with the well and communal dining tables.  In one direction was Scholar’s Hall where Daniel had holed up for the better part of the mission.  In the other direction was the temple where her temporary lab was set up. There were boxy houses just off one side of the courtyard that repeated in long rows for several blocks and spread out into the dusty plains becoming more hut-like the further away from the village they were.  On the other side of the courtyard were the buildings that seemed to belong to Baurton and his ilk: the barracks, a few shops, and the town hall-like building where the village had gathered two night’s before to find out exactly how Sam and the colonel had suddenly become an important part of their lives.

But the activity that drew her gaze down the road in the direction of the temple was strange.  There were children hooting and hollering.  A game gone wrong, perhaps?  Or a tussle? She wasn’t sure. She hadn’t seen children in or around the temple at all during their stay on Rorilia.  Ohara had mentioned that children didn’t worship along with adults, and it had registered with her that she’d never even seen the children venture to that end of the village.

She looked back down at the papers she’d gathered before when she was going to try to make a break for it.  The notes she’d grabbed were mostly worthless – old information, a day old already.  She’d have to go get the more up to date information.  And her laptop wouldn’t hurt.  As the colonel pointed out, she had just one more day to make enough progress to stall their wedding. 

********

By the time she was able to head towards her lab, the suns had surpassed high in the sky and were headed back towards the horizon. Daniel had reappeared with a book that included equations that had, after several hours of excited calculations, proven to be unrelated to the task at hand.  The colonel had returned with the equipment she’d requested and she’d calibrated the new machinery to work in Rorilia’s slightly odd geomagnetic field.

At some point she’d stopped for a late lunch and a bath when the colonel had helpfully pointed out that not only was she covered in a fine layer of the gritty, mustard-colored sand she’d been wallowing in under the larger equipment, but she also didn’t smell so great.

She was combing her fingers through her wet hair and chatting with Daniel about his day’s progress when she stepped into her lab. It wasn’t immediately apparent what was wrong, but something was.  She checked the magnetic particle inspector, and it was fine. She turned to wake up her laptop, but it was gone.  So was the leather-bound folio that held her loose-leaf notes. 

Daniel was still chattering away about something but she wasn’t following his litany any longer.  She was racking her brain.  Had she taken the laptop and notes back to the little house?  To the courtyard, perhaps, at one of the meal times? Did the colonel take it with him to the gate?

“Sam?”  Daniel broke her reverie.  “What’s wrong?”

“Have you seen me with my laptop today? Or my notes?”

“You had notes at breakfast,” he said with a shrug.

She shook her head; _no, those were outdated_.  “At any other time?”

“Nope.”

She took a deep breath.  She hadn’t thought she was overtired, but apparently, she’d been mistaken. She left the lab behind, Daniel still following along talking a mile a minute, oblivious to anything that wasn’t the exciting world of the Rorilian language shift that had occurred four hundred years prior – okay, so perhaps she’d been paying a little bit of attention.

She was nearly frantic by the time the search of the house and courtyard turned up nothing.  She’d been previously denied entry to the barracks because that’s where the men of the security force were housed.  However, at the hour, she knew them to be training out in the grass fields where the children had been playing when she and the colonel had been roped into the whole mess.  It was that arrogance of foresight that presented her with an image of her nearly naked CO as he stepped out of the communal bath and into the main bunkroom at the same moment she burst in.

She was dumbfounded.  He was tall, lean, tan and wearing nothing but a set of jockey shorts-style underwear she’d never fully appreciated until that moment. He’d stood there, looking at her while he toweled his hair until she had, apparently, _appreciated_ him for too long. 

A bemused smile spread across his face. “Captain?  You needed something?

She flushed from the roots of her hair down to her belly button. She knew that deep blush; she’d been intimately acquainted with it since her brother had flung a training bra across the hallway between the junior high and high school corridors when she was fourteen and had the huge crush on his best friend Eric Elliott who was never more than a few steps away from the magnanimous Mark Carter.

She spun on her heels and presented him with her back. “Oh my god, sir, I’m so sorry.”

He chuckled and she could hear the rustle of ABUs behind her. “Carter, they’re just underwear. And you can turn around now.”

She did, only to find him standing there in his unbuttoned and unzipped pants, bare chest damp and gleaming behind his dog tags, and she found that sight oddly more intimate than the long-glimpse she’d had of him in far less moments before.  She averted her gaze to the floor.  “I’m sorry, sir.”

“We’ve established that.  What did you need?”

“Oh.”  She looked up in time to see him pull a black t-shirt over his head.  She watched him tuck it in and fasten his pants before she remembered she was supposed to be talking.  _God, this is embarrassing_. “Have you seen my laptop?”

“Not since last night in the lab.”

“Neither have I.  It’s gone, sir.  My notes, too.”

“Gone?  For cryin’ out loud, Carter; no one here can use it.”

“I know that, sir.”

“Are you sure it’s not in your room?  You’ve been in and out of there a few times today.”

“I’ve checked.  Not there.”

“The courtyard?”

“No.”

“Okay.”

“Okay?”

“I’m doing risk assessment in my head, Captain. There wasn’t enough brain power to supply words, too.”

She quirked a grin.  “Yes, sir.”

“Who benefits from a missing laptop and notes?”

“Eduan,” she said quickly.

“That’s where I ended up, too.”

“But he’s been with us all day, scowling at the new equipment.”

“That doesn’t mean he didn’t take it. It just means that you didn’t _see_ him take it.”

“Sir, he’s been a pain in the ass, but he’s been fair.”

“He’s not exactly your biggest fan, Carter.”

“So, now what?”

Daniel and Teal’c entered the barracks, the wooden door slapping shut behind them.  “Any luck, Sam?”

“What, you thought I was going to find my laptop in here? That the colonel would be playing minesweeper and having a big laugh at my expense?”

He raised his hands in supplication.  “Hey, just asking.”

She exhaled heavily and pressed a palm over her eyes. “I’m sorry.”

He patted her shoulder awkwardly.  “It’s okay.”

“There are few people here who would benefit from the loss of your research, Captain Carter.”

“We already got there, Teal’c,” the colonel said and collapsed onto the edge of one of the beds.  “Okay. So we…  _I_ … confront Eduan about the missing equipment.  He denies taking it.  Then what?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, Daniel, let’s cut to the chase.”

Sam sat down on the floor with her back against the bed facing him.  “This is the last day he agreed to give me.  He’s going to force us to get married.”

“He can try, Carter, but he can’t _actually_ force us into anything.  Even if we participate in whatever it is he wants us to... _participate in…_ it’s not like it’s anything but a means to an end.”

“An end I’d prefer to avoid.”

“Well,” he huffed and grasped at the back of his neck, “yeah. Me too.”

“But,” she hedged, “we’re going to _have_ to confront him.  I can’t pretend as if I’m working because that’ll solve even less than our getting married would and he’d _know_. And we can’t get another laptop through the gate because Baurton’s men have been checking all the deliveries that have come through the gate for weaponry, right?”

The colonel nodded.  “Yep.  And by now, I don’t think any of them wouldn’t know a laptop if they saw one.”

“We don’t have our weapons and we’re outnumbered,” Daniel reminded the team unnecessarily.   “Can we sneak out to the gate in the middle of the night?”

The colonel shook his head.  “Baurton’s got a contingent of five men on the gate at all times. While we _could_ do it, I’m not sure five bare-hands fatalities are the answer. Not yet.”

“So…where does that leave us?”

Daniel cleared his throat.  “There _are_ seven more marriage rites to be performed.”

“Daniel—“ the colonel started, gearing up for a rant.

“It _would_ buy us a little time, sir.”

He studied her carefully.  “So you’re saying instead of pretending to pretend to go along with this whole marriage thing, that we _actually_ pretend to go along with this whole marriage thing?”

She couldn’t help the rueful smile.  “Yes, sir.  I think I am.”

His head dropped back and she found herself inexplicably focused on his Adam’s apple and the strong line of his turned-up jaw. “Carter, you’re enough to give a guy whiplash, you know that?”

“Yes, sir.”

He looked down at her and quirked an eyebrow at the mischievous look on her face.  “So, what now?”

Sam looked down at her watch.  “Three hours until sundown.”  She grimaced.  “I suppose I have time to go see the _attendants_.”

The colonel grinned.  “It’s a little early to be getting gussied up for the wedding, don’t you think?”

Exasperated, she said, “I don’t think that’s what the attendants are for.”

Daniel piped up.  “Nope. As a matter of fact, it seems their only function is to show her how to prepare herself for the pre-marriage rites.”

“ _Prepare_ herself?” the colonel asked aghast, just as she mirrored his tone with, “ _Excuse me?_ ”

“That’s one of the things I found along with the reference to the eight phases.  You’ll need to be dressed and prepared properly for each of the rites.”

“What, _exactly_ , do these rites entail, Daniel?” the colonel asked with steel in his voice.

“I don’t know.  Not yet,” he hurried to continue when the colonel looked ready to blow a gasket. “But in light of today’s developments I think I’ll start the research on the wedding rituals right away. The element can…” he glanced at Sam and winced, “wait.”

“Okay,” the colonel said with finality. “Daniel’s headed back to his books, Sam’s going to the temple to do… _whatever_ … I’m going to do a little creative recon to see if I can put my eyes on Carter’s missing paraphernalia. Teal’c…go stand somewhere and look intimidating.”  He stood and offered his hand to haul Sam up off the ground.

Teal’c nodded and harnessed his ever-present frown. “If you believe that will be helpful, O’Neill.”

The colonel, apparently, couldn’t help but laugh and he clapped the big man on the shoulder as he walked by.  “Well, Teal’c, it certainly isn’t going to hurt.”


	3. Chapter 3

Sam huffed and rubbed her eraser through yet another useless line of poorly-remembered calculations that were correct  _somewhere_  with her laptop. A tremor from beneath the building caused a precariously placed note paper to flutter to the floor. She sunk her fingers into the hair at her temples and groaned when she encountered the Rorilian version of hair gel that didn't come out in the warm-ish water of her evening bath despite the assurances from the women. Sleeping on the stuff hadn't improved its consistency and if the smirk the colonel hid behind his kevvi cup that morning indicated anything, it wasn't her best look. She didn't appreciate his silent input.

While he'd done his  _creative recon_  she was the principle in a game of dress up she'd have preferred to have avoided. The village women had undressed her with a particular zeal and found her protests amusing. Before she'd finished snarling at the older woman who'd tugged at her underwear, another dropped a soft, cotton-y shift over her head. While the shape didn't do her any favors, she had to admit that it was comfortable enough. In lieu of a mirror she'd glanced down the front of her body and decided to beg and plead for the return of her bra. There was no way she could face her commanding officer with her breasts running rampant.

Dressed to their liking, they'd pushed her hair back from her face with their silky, sticky gel. Despite it's pleasing scent she wasn't a huge fan of the 90s look - especially when they sprinkled an opalescent sand from temple to temple. As it happened, the grit washed out fine even if the gel wouldn't budge.

She flipped through the pages of handwritten notes, but she saw more errors and placeholders than helpful information. She chucked her pen at the door in frustration. It swung open and she got the impression her visitor had been awaiting a sign. "You appear agitated, Captain Carter."

She chuckled wryly. "You might say that, Teal'c." She tried to push her fingers through her hair one more time. As her fingers tangled in the fixed locks she was embarrassed when tears filled her eyes.

"You are worried you cannot again discover what you already had?"

Through blurred vision she found amusement in the confused expression on his face. She imagined he was wholly unprepared to deal with a crying human woman. Did Jaffa women cry? Probably not. Not strong warrior women married to warrior men who birthed babies in hovels and dreamed of things like Prim'ta ceremonies. Teal'c supplicated before her and it turned the mist of almost-emotion into tears on her cheeks.

"I'm good, Teal'c, but I can't help them without my notes and laptop. Even if I had the readings from the devices we placed on the mountain I couldn't do anything with the data. It doesn't mean a thing if I can't plug it into a computer."

He had the good grace to not mention her failure leaking all over face. "Someone dishonorable among these villagers has stolen from you. Help has been cajoled and demanded from you and then your means to deliver it was taken away. Why do you still wish to help these people, Captain Carter?"

She opened her mouth to answer him with the requisite b _ecause it's my job_ but found it just hanging open, the words dead before they could come between them. Yes, it was her job, and yes, she'd been ordered by not only her colonel but also her General to do what she could to dispense with this situation. But that wasn't enough. It wasn't about orders. "Because," she finally answered, "it's what I  _do_." It was all she had, but though she liked Teal'c, she wouldn't tell him that.

Sam turned away from him and let the tears fall in a way she couldn't have if he kept looking at her in that stalwart manner of his. She lifted her hand to the back of her head, encountered more the gel, and growled in frustration.

"What do you need, Captain Carter?"

"A computer. My notes. The mountain device readings. And more damn time."

"What do you  _want,_ Captain Carter?"

She couldn't help but chuckle; he'd grasp the subtle distinction. Of course he would. Teal'c was basically, well, perfect. She turned to him and offered a wry smile. "I'd really love a shower."

Two hours later she had another dozen sheets of paper with half remembered equations and notes scattered around her on the table. Teal'c had left her shortly after she'd laughed and dried the rest of her tears but he reappeared in front of her. His shirt and pants were dirty and he looked a little damp around the edges.

"Captain Carter, I have sent several of the local scholars with Daniel Jackson to determine how far from the village the effects of the element can be felt."

She looked up at him in shock. "What? Why? I can't-"

"You cannot process the information from the devices, but that does not mean you cannot still make use of what we can know." He paused and she'd have sworn he seemed bashful. "And I would like you to come with me."

She gestured at the surrounding papers, "But now I have even more reason to try to remember what I'd already worked out."

"We have several hours before they return. And," he said again, more slowly, "I would like you to come with me."

She huffed, but she heard the exasperation in his voice. She admitted intrigue as the request was wholly un-Teal'c-like. She set down her pencil. "Okay, Teal'c. I'm all yours."

He nodded then turned his back on her. He moved out quickly enough that she had to trot to catch up. He led her behind the barracks building where she was absolutely surprised and completely elated to see a camp shower standing in a corner where two arms of the building came together.

"The water is warm, but not unlimited."

She was wide and grateful eyed, she knew. She couldn't help it. She flung her arms around him. "Thank you."

"It was a simple request, Captain Carter."

She had already bent to untie her boots. She kicked them off as she made her way to the shower. Her shirt was over her head when she remembered Teal'c but when she looked over her shoulder he'd already turned his back to her. She was grateful he seemed compelled to wait. Her little shower was private but the thought of one of the local men happening upon her didn't weigh lightly.

She stepped inside the contraption behind the curtains made from SGC tarps that went all the way to the ground. Inside the private area she shucked her uniform pants, sports bra, and panties. Along with the gravity-fed supply of heated water she'd seen from outside, inside she saw a basin of hot water she could use to wash her hair - also there, the small bottle of 2-in-1 conditioning shampoo she carried in her pack.

"Teal'c," she called out, "if it wasn't inappropriate, I'd propose right now."

His chuckle was deep and rumbled through her. She was startled to realize she'd never heard him laugh before.

"I do not believe that to be true, Captain Carter. Though even if I did, it would seem you are already spoken for."

That shut her up good. For all intents and purposes, at least for the time being and the good of the mission, she  _was_  spoken for. By her colonel of all people. What the hell was she thinking? To top it off, she'd agreed to the charade as wholeheartedly as she could, only to discover she was being thwarted by someone - presumably the same someone who preferred she marry the colonel than solve their planetary issue with the science she trusted.

It wasn't that she was opposed to marriage. And she certainly wasn't opposed to pretending to get married. She wasn't entirely sure  _why_  she was having such a strong emotional reaction: completely opposed in one moment, agreeing the next. And why? To save people she didn't know? Well, she admitted to herself, it certainly  _sounded_  like something she'd do. Why not try to save an entire culture of people if she thought it was possible?

The truth was, if she'd give herself just half a minute of complete honesty, she could trace all the emotional baggage she was carrying around back to her own spectacularly failed engagement. What she went through with Jonas she was prepared to ensure she never had to endure again. Would the colonel hurt her? No. And it's not like any of what was going on had anything to do with an actual marriage anyway.

She should take her shower, wash the marriage goop out of her hair and get her head screwed back on straight. It was time to soldier up and get on with the business of pretending to marry her commanding officer.

~*~

Sam was still tucking her t-shirt into her trousers when she meandered into the courtyard. The colonel was sitting at their usual breakfast table but he was vibrating with tension despite the relaxed pose he feigned.

She slipped onto the bench across from him and snatched one of the bottles of water out of the half opened pack that was laying on the table.

"Teal'c built me a shower."

He nodded and twisted his bottle of water on the table. He looked like he was contemplating the price of tea in China but she had a feeling his thoughts were a lot closer to home - such as it was. "That little fuck-head is going to be a real problem."

She chuckled, imagining for a moment he was talking about Teal'c but knowing he was talking about their captor. "You mean more of one than he's already been?"

"While you and Teal'c were playing water-babies I went to check in with Hammond. There's a watch on the gate 24/7 and lookouts along the trail the entire way. Covert guys. Good." He grunted.

"You saw them," she observed.

"They're good. I'm better."

"You know Teal'c sent Daniel out with some village scholars to collect data for me?"

He nodded, faked interest in his water.

"Without a computer, I don't think it's going to help much."

"What do you think he did with our weapons?"

She shrugged. "But it's probably not a good idea to go looking for them."

"With the right supplies we could blast through their damn blockade."

"I'm pretty sure Daniel wouldn't approve."

"Then I guess it's a good thing Daniel's not in charge," he snarled. She was reminded that her commanding officer had more than a little anger in him. "Can you even do this thing without a computer?"

"I highly doubt it, sir."

"I don't like you not being confident in your abilities."

"Neither do I."

"It's ridiculous we're even considering being thwarted by a group of religious zealots with 16th century technology, Carter."

"Who said anything about being thwarted?"

"You think blasting out is a bad idea and you don't think you can solve their…" he waved his hand around in the air, "without a computer. Eduan-"

"At least you're using his name again," she interjected wryly.

"-isn't going to just give yours back. So now what?"

"We...well...I guess we keep trying, sir."

"What the hell is your investment in this anyway, Captain?"

"What do you mean?"

"I  _mean_ , why the hell do you care what happens to these people? They sure as hell don't care what happens to you. And why are you so willing to dive into a charade that clearly makes you uncomfortable-"

She flushed and broke eye contact.

"-to help people who can't agree if they believe the earthquakes are caused by a pissed off god or if there's some actual  _science_  involved?"

"What am I supposed to do, sir? Stand back and watch an entire civilization eviscerate themselves when I'm pretty sure I can prevent that? Besides, it's not like they're going to let us walk right out of here if I tell them I've changed my mind about helping out. "

"You've had a pretty big change of tune, Captain. So what's changed? Decided pretending to marry me is a lesser evil than dying on an alien planet?"

She thought she detected a hint of bitterness in his voice, but she didn't trust the observation. "Well, sir, yes. I'd prefer none of us died on this mission. And considering I'm held up indefinitely and Eduan's deadline is approaching, playing along does seem like the best tactic at the moment."

"Carter, you're such a romantic."

She checked the urge to sigh. "Sir, if there was any other way, I promise you I'd be jumping at it. But it does buy us some valuable time. The longer we let Eduan believe we're buying into his delusion the more time we have to find my equipment and get to the bottom of the phenomenon. Even if I do have all the necessary equipment, I can't even begin to tell you why the element is causing a seismic reaction. It doesn't make any sense."

"At ease, Carter," he huffed. "I'm not disagreeing. I'm just asking."

"Asking...what, exactly, sir?"

"Why the change of heart? You were pretty tetchy about the whole thing until yesterday. As a matter of fact, you had a fairly strong reaction to the demands. I can understand not being thrilled about the situation, but you know it's all make believe. So why the resistance at all?"

She studied her water bottle because she wasn't sure how to answer him.

"If I were even a little astute I might say this was something to do with Hanson."

Without her permission, her gaze snapped up to his. "Jonas? Why?"

"Well, the last time marriage came up it didn't exactly work out too well for you."

"You said it yourself, sir. This is all make believe."

"And yet you're still tying yourself up in knots over the whole thing. So what gives?"

"You know, they dressed me up like a doll last night. Put me in a shift, put glue in my hair. And I'm supposed to wear that get-up every time we have participate in one of the rites."

"That sounds like an argument  _against_  playing along."

"It's neither." She scratched at a mark on the tabletop with her fingernail. "What is it with these planets and getting me into dresses?"

"Carter." Oops, he sounded exasperated.

Then, she was unable to check her urge to sigh. "I'm pretty strong. And  _really_ smart. And last time someone said the word engaged in my general vicinity I ended up in a relationship that I wouldn't wish on anybody. And I  _know_  this whole thing is for the good of the mission, and I  _know_  you to be a fair commanding officer, but I thought Jonas to be fair too - before he asked me to marry him. He was...well, sir, he was remarkably similar in personality to you. I'm reacting to all of this because it feels very familiar. "

"Carter…" Good. He sounded resigned. Maybe a little chagrinned.

"So I'm trying really hard to separate what it feels like from what it  _is_. I just...I don't even really know you and I'm terrified about what these rituals are going to entail and where  _is_  Daniel with that information, by the way?"

"Out collecting data. For you, Captain." He sounded like he was purposefully tackling the easier bear in her disquisition. He killed a little time and killed his bottle of water. "Look, you can make up everything you say to them or to me. You don't owe them the truth and your personal feelings on these subjects are yours alone."

She considered that. "Were you planning on lying to me?"

"No." He held her gaze directly. "No, Carter, I wasn't. But I didn't think I might need to. I didn't realize this had you so tied up in knots."

"It's stupid."

"It's not stupid. But it  _is_  emotional, and it has a way of getting good people in trouble out in the field. But don't worry. Me, Daniel, Teal'c...we've got your back. You won't be in any of this alone. I'm with you every step of the way."

"So there's nothing in your life that is so personal you weren't going to share it with me during the rituals?"

He hesitated. "I didn't say that. I said I wasn't going to lie."

"Isn't withholding information just another type of lie?"

"No." He said, matter-of-factly and then didn't elaborate. He redirected, "Look, you've got some more time to sort through this in your head. There's another roundtable tonight. Between then and tomorrow's check in with Hammond, we don't know what's going to happen. But we  _do_  know we're not going to be doing any getting married."

She smiled but couldn't keep the slight sound of resignation out of her voice. "I suppose you're right, sir. Safe until tomorrow."

"Carter," he said as he swung his legs out from under the table, "you're hell on a guy's ego."

She smiled wider, "Yes, sir. I've heard."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's back! BFA is back. Thank goodness! I can't tell you what a relief it is to be writing this story again.


	4. Chapter 4

Just like the town hall meeting two nights before, it was standing room only. Teal'c had staked out the same short wooden bench SG-1 occupied previously. Daniel, looking wilted around the edges and dustier than usual, was draining a large bottle of water while Teal'c opened another for him.

Between bottles he turned towards Sam, "I can't believe you set all those up on your own."

She chuckled, "Just be thankful you didn't have to carry them back. There are almost a hundred pounds of sensors out there."

"I feel like I've walked ten miles."

Sam shrugged, "More like ten kilometers, but you did a lot of it at seven percent grade."

"I'm never teasing you about all your gadgets ever again." He tipped the second bottle of water of and half downed it before speaking again. "At least the planet cooperated and gave us some data."

"For what good it will do," she agreed. "But your notes were very thorough. I appreciate the help."

He shrugged. "Least I could do. Considering." He finished the bottle. "But now that that's done I'll get back to the research on their marriage rituals. Make sure you and Jack know what to expect." Teal'c exchanged the newly empty bottle for a third opened. Daniel finally started sipping instead of gulping.

The colonel plunked down in the empty spot to her left, his hair was damp and he smelled of Air Force issue soap. Sam noticed how small droplets of water clung to the hair at his wrists. "I've about had it with these whore's baths," he grumbled.

"Jack!" Daniel grumbled more out of habit than offense, but still jerked his head at Sam.

Sam scoffed. "Oh please, Daniel. You think that's the first time I've heard that?"

"It's still offensive."

"To whom?" Jack demanded good naturedly. "If anyone is going to be offended, it should be us. Teal'c built her a shower and stocked it with hot water. You don't see him boiling water for us, do you?"

"Perhaps I prefer Captain Carter," Teal'c put in and Sam could have sworn she saw the corner of his mouth turn up before his lips settled into his trademark frown.

At the front of the room, Eduan, Baurton and Ohara entered and made their way to the long table. As before, one man sat on each end and Ohara sat in the middle -- a symbolic and sometimes actual mediator between the people's religious and secular leaders.

The conversation in the room dwindled until the only sound was the swishing sound of leather soles against the hardpack dirt floor.

"I'm pleased to say," Edual began and did, indeed, sound rather smug, "that Captain Carter has finally been prepared for the marriage rites."

A low murmur carried through the assembled villagers. Their voices held enough reverence to make Sam feel slightly uncomfortable.

Next to her, the colonel stood up. "That's right. She's holding up her end of the bargain. But we seem to have a little problem here. _Someone_ is stealing from my scientist."

The incredulous outrage in his voice made her want to smile even while the slight possession of his remark added to her already uncomfortable feeling.

"Yesterday, her notes and her laptop computer were taken from the space designated as her lab. Without the computer she can't process the data from her sensors. Which means," he pointed out for the benefit of Baurton, she was sure, "she can't help you."

Before Eduan could open his mouth to once again assert she could _help by completing the marriage ritual_ , Baurton stood, incensed. His fiery eyes landed on Eduan. "Were you so fearful of my ways that you would sabotage our only chance for survival?"

"His ways?" Sam muttered a little too loudly and both Daniel and the colonel shot her a look.

At the front of the room, Eduan barrelled ahead. "My gods have been protecting our people far longer than your scholars have been writing their books."

"As the scholars continue to disprove your superstitions your gods become archaic."

Both men faced off from either end of the table. "Do you not fear the doubt of your god?"

"Forsaken by a god I don't believe in?" Baurton sounded amused. "I will take my chances."

"Eduan," Ohara interjected firmly. "Esteemed Baurton. Your views are both well understood by the entirety of our village. However, the fact remains that guests have brought a problem to our table and it must be solved."

"The girl should not be wasting time!" Eduan lost his temper and pounded a fist into the table.

The colonel bristled, "The _girl_ , isn't a damned _girl_. She's a captain in the United States Air Force!"

"Jack, I don't think that's going to hold much regard here," Daniel pointed out quietly.

"Well, what the hell do you want me to say, Daniel?"

"Sir, if I may?" Sam requested.

He resigned and sat heavily on the bench next to her while motioning her upward, onward.

She modulated her voice in a way she rarely bothered to in an attempt to show deference alongside her conviction. "Sirs, as agreed I am attempting to follow your customs. I was attended to last night as directed and so far no further instructions have been given. However, my laptop and my notes _are_ missing. Eduan, just as I've promised to do as you've asked, you agreed to allow me the opportunity to research these events. We don't agree how to solve the problem but we both agree there is one. Isn't it better to try everything we can? All I'm asking is that my computer and my notes be returned."

Predictably, Eduan glossed over all of her statement but the last. "You believe I know where your missing items are?"

Beside her, the colonel scoffed quietly and was poked in the ribs by Daniel.

"It doesn't matter to me who has them, only that they're returned. Or, if that is impossible, that you allow a replacement to be sent through the gate as soon as possible. The loss of the notes, however, would be a major hardship."

"You cannot expect us to believe you had nothing to do with this," Baurton sneered at Eduan. "And the girl must be given her due."

Sam rolled her eyes. _Really_? Baurton was less than a decade older than she was.  "It's appropriate to address me as Captain or Doctor, Sam would also be fine. But I'd ask you both to refrain from calling me _girl_ if at any point you'd like me to continue on either path."

Daniel feigned a cough and hid a smirk behind his hand.

The colonel chucked. "Maybe you should offer to arm wrestle them, Carter."

She flushed. She'd almost forgotten that mortifying first exchange with him. _Almost_.

Ohara stood and addressed Sam with a small, knowing smile. "Please excuse my husband and the esteemed Baurton. They did not mean any offense." She shot each man a perturbed look. "We will find your belongings, Sam, and have them returned to you immediately. Perhaps this is the prank of children."

Sam wasn't so sure, but she'd learned to choose her battles. "Thank you. I appreciate your help."

"Perhaps we should all take our leave and you could get your colonel something cool and refreshing to sooth his temperament."

"Oh, geesh," she said and rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, Carter. Something cool and refreshing."

"Don't hold your breath, sir."

"Looks like my second wife isn't going to be any more solicitous than my first," he said jovially.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Sam sprawled near the fire, her laptop balanced on one thigh and a  plate of food on the other. Sometime after the town hall meeting and while SG-1 was having an impromptu confab around the table in the house where she was a guest, someone, she never saw who, replaced her belongings and she wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

There was a thumping drumbeat and some enthusiastic singing that sounded more to her untrained ear like caterwauling and she found it distracting, so she was paying closer attention to the bread the colonel had piled onto her plate than she was to the laptop.

Off to her left, where the light of the fire was brighter, Daniel was huddled around a collection of old books with some of the village scholars. Once the technology crisis had passed he'd felt free to go back the books and his attempt to decipher the written language at the same time he was collecting the information he needed to pass along about the marriage rites. She though it also had more than a little to do with the curiosity of the mysterious devolution of the Rorilian language, but he'd been so helpful she wasn't going to badger him for splitting his attentions.

Ohara passed by, the bottom of her robes kicking up a fine grit of sand that caused Sam to cover her plate protectively. Ohara leaned down and, with a smile, offered Sam a tall, thin clay cup filled nearly to the brim with a pale, greenish-yellow liquid. Sam accepted it gratefully. The bread was dense and moist, full of flavor and hearty, but difficult to swallow. Ohara moved on. Sam sniffed the concoction. It smelled sweet, a little yeasty and perhaps alcoholic.

"Daniel!" she called out. When he turned, she lifted the cup and a questioning eyebrow.

He nodded reassuringly and called back, "Pulque. It's fine. Mild," then he turned back to his conversation.

She took a sip. To her it tasted mostly of cucumber, but she hadn't seen anything resembling a cucumber on the planet.

The colonel dropped down next to her though he used the bench as a seat rather than a backrest. "Drinking the local brew, Carter? Gutsy."

She blushed. She wasn't ever going to live down her little display on '595. "Daniel says it's fine."

"Daniel didn't have to chase down a teenage boy to retrieve your underwear."

"The way I heard it there wasn't much chasing."

"Chasing. Tackling," he shrugged, then grinned smugly and weighed either option in a hand. "Either way I--"

"Won. Yes sir." But she couldn't help but smile.

"Planning on taking anything off tonight, Carter?" His grin turned sly and it made her stomach flop over. He really was handsome, she admitted to herself. Between his soft-looking brown hair and his chiseled jaw were a bunch of other really nice features and as she slowly catalogued them all to memory his smile began to fall. He cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Uh, sorry, Sam. I shouldn't have--"

She realized she'd taken too long to answer and made him regret his teasing. But the teasing felt nice, like she was part of the team. And she was so often _the smart one_ that it felt good to be just one of them that she was quick to reassure him. "No sir. Not taking anything off."

He grinned a little but refrained from saying anything further.

Mild or no, the pulque soon left her feeling, if not light headed, certainly loose-muscled. The colonel had abandoned her distracted company for a fresh batch of the pastries he liked so much. Through the fire she could make him out. He appeared to be having a bit of a disagreement with Eduan, but that didn't surprise her very much. Until, that is, the colonel beckoned Daniel over to join in the conversation and Sam realized with a start that she was a little, happily, fuzzy around the edges. She tried not to grin like an idiot, but she was fairly unsuccessful.

Soon, the colonel, Daniel and Eduan approached. Eduan looked triumphant, Daniel looked concerned and the colonel looked downright irritated.

"C'mon, Carter."

"Sir?" Still wedged precariously beneath her laptop, a plate, and the apparently intoxicating effects of the pulque, she had to lean back a bit to meet his eyes as he stopped right next to her hip. Wow. Tall.

"Come. On. Carter." He quirked an eyebrow, but reached down to haul her up from her seated position. She scrabbled for her laptop as he tugged her up but she overbalanced and ended up leaning into Daniel's chest.

"Wow," she said. "I think I'm drunk."

"This just gets better and better," the colonel muttered as he passed her off to Daniel.

"What does?"

"You and Jack have to spend the evening in the matrimally."

"Why do I not like the sound of this?"

"And it's the whole damned night, Daniel. Is there really any need to sugar coat it?"

"What's going on?" she asked.

"Turns out this was our engagement party," the colonel griped.

"And now we have to spend the night together?" she wondered.

"Don't worry," he said, "you'll leave with your virtue in tact."

"Jack!" Daniel exclaims.

She attempted to defer, "I'm sorry, sir, I didn't mean--"

He heaved an aggrieved sigh and waved her off. "Neither did I, Carter."

Choosing the lesser battle of the moment, she turned her attention to Daniel. "I thought you said this stuff was mild. I feel like I've gone three rounds with a bottle of whiskey."

"It _is_ mild," he argued. I've been drinking it all night."

"And he's a lightweight," the colonel felt compelled to point out.

"Well, _I'm_ not," she huffed. "Or, at least, I _wasn't_ …"

"C'mon," he entreated again. "Let's go find the honeymoon suite and you can sleep it off."

Daniel tried to correct him. "It's not a--"

"Can it, Daniel. While Carter and I go make like the happy couple, why don't you find out what's going to happen next so we're not taken by surprise." He paused. "Again."

The colonel stalked off in the general direction of _not the party_ with her in tow, and she had the distinct feeling he had no real idea where he was going.

She wasn't entirely sure how but eventually they were left inside a small, one-room dwelling. There was a fireplace, but it wasn't burning in deference to the warm night. There was a table upon which sat a pitcher of pulque but the colonel shoved it pointedly to the far side once she'd taken a seat.

She looked around the room. "There's no bed," she said and immediately wanted to kick herself.

But away from the external threat of Eduan, the colonel's good humor had been reacquired. He raised an eyebrow at her but refrained from saying anything.

She blushed. "Not that we need a bed, but it's an all night ordeal, right? I mean, this _is_ going to take all night?"

He raised his eyebrow higher and started to smirk.

"Oh, this is all coming out so very wrong."

He leaned back in the chair across from her. "I dunno, Carter. Feel free to keep going."

"Please put me out of my misery, sir."

He chuckled and she chalked up the warm feeling it caused to the pulque. "There's no bed because they want to ensure there's no hanky panky."

"Uh-- there wasn't any shot of that anyway."

"You really _are_ hell on a guy's ego, Carter. Geez."

She paled. "No, sir. I meant we don't know each other very well, and I don't think--"

"Carter! I was teasing." He propped his foot up against the corner of the seat of her chair. "There's no bed because this isn't that kind of night. And even if it were, the sheer number of interruptions we'll be getting would have put a real damper on anything even remotely fun."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, this is supposed to be a pre-ritual ritual. There's nothing specific we have to do but be here proving that we're compatible."

"How are we supposed to do that without a bed?"

He gave her an incredulous look but the side of his mouth quirked up. "Not sexually compatible."

She felt the blood that had previously drained from her face rush back into her cheeks. "Oh."

"Besides, as pious as Eduan is, I don't think he's going to be checking any sheets for virgin's blood."

"Well, thank god for that," she cracked, forgetting to be embarrassed.

He tilted his head as he considered her and she wished, not for the first time since she'd met him, she knew what was going on behind those brown eyes. She saw question after question flit across his face, one discarded right after the other. Finally, he gave half a nod and sat up straight.

"So how's that drunk treating you, Captain?"

"Better tonight than it will tomorrow morning."

He pulled a bottle of water out of his pack and tossed it to her. "Hydrate."

"Thanks, sir."

"Wonder why you got drunk on the stuff when it didn't even bother Daniel."

"I don't know. Why was my equipment stolen? Why did a little girl look at me and decide I'd be better off engaged to my CO?"

He sighed. "That last thing happened to me too, you know."

She concentrated on the water bottle, peeled off the label, idly noted the bottle-half-empty water level, then took a drink to kill some time. "I'm sorry."

"Me too," he said though he looked like he'd been about to say something else.

"Do you wonder what she saw?"

"I'm trying not to," he said quietly then he stood abruptly and moved to the other side of the room, pacing the length of the wall. "It doesn't matter."

"No, sir. It doesn't," she said and hoped he couldn't hear the resignation in her voice.

The whole thing was a situation she never wanted to be in, but if she were being completely honest with herself, it could have been worse. She had no idea what the marriage rites were going to bring, but she could venture a guess or two and she found herself at least a little grateful that it was the colonel and not Daniel -- who might not react well to the whole predicament given the situation with his wife -- and not with Teal'c who, though she liked him, likely had a very different idea of how men were supposed to relate to women. No, she figures she got the best possible deal under the circumstances.

Ten minutes later he was still pacing and she'd pulled a deck of cards out of his pack and was playing solitaire when Eduan stepped into the room. He looked between Sam and the colonel with a scowl on his face, clearly unimpressed to see them with the entire stretch of room between them. After that, the colonel sat back down at the table and they struck up a quiet game of cards during which the only words that were said were "gin," "knock for three," "gin", and "gin" again before Ohara took her turn checking in on them.

He dealt a fifth hand once they'd been left alone. "I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable," she said as she sorted her cards.

He looked up at her with shock in his features. "You didn't make me uncomfortable."

"But, sir, I--"

"Carter, things are going to get fairly uncomfortable from time to time while all this is happening," he said gruffly and squared the deck on the table between them. "It's your turn to discard."

"You're my commanding officer," she said unnecessarily.

"So?"

"So there are things I'm not supposed to say to you!"

"And, 'Captain, be my wife,' isn't on that list?"

"That's not the point."

"Then what is?"

"I don't know!"

He sighed. "I'm not always going to know what to say, Sam."

"Me either."

"So, I'll cut you some slack if you'll cut me some."

She fiddled with her cards. "Yeah. Okay."

"Okay," he said with finality. "Now,"  he flashed her a slow, easy smile, "it's your turn to discard."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I try to avoid lengthy ANs these days, but I had to stop to say thanks to everyone for the kind response to Chapter 3 last month. It is taking FOREVER for me to update this story. But I'm back and shuffling right along (slowly; shuffling very slowly). I know at least some of you had to start over from the beginning -- a daunting task when it's 12000 words of set-up, but you did it anyway and I'm thankful for you. Rest assured this story is completely plotted and outlined (though it's been condensed quite a bit, not for content's sake but for pacing). The only thing holding me up these days is the time and focus to sit down and actually write the dadgummed thing. But I'm working on it!


	5. Chapter 5

"You missed breakfast." The colonel sauntered into her lab with a steaming cup of kevvi in his hand.

"Is that for me?" she asked, reaching for it.

"Sure, okay," he said relinquishing it to her.  "Daniel is back to the books. Teal'c is...somewhere."

"With Daniel?"

"Probably."

It was nice to have things back to normal. Both she and Daniel back at work, each with their babysitter making sure they remembered to do normal things like eat.

"Almost all of the sensors are checking in. There's an RFM problem with one of them, but I don't want to leave to check on it right now."

"I could do that for you."

She looked at him sharply. "Really?"

"Well," he hemmed, "yeah."

"That would be great. I've got," she gestured at the table, "all of this to go through. Some of it is new and I need to see if I was on to something or not. And I'd like to take some air samples after the next tremor to run through the mass spectrometer. At some point I need to get with Daniel about what the native population knew about the element and its effect on the planet. And we really need to find out what we're supposed to be doing next and find out how badly it's going to interfere with the time I need to be using to research."

"I _can_ help you, you know. But, Carter, you need to take a breath."

"But sir--"

"I'm good for more than standing around with a gun, Captain."

"I didn't mean to imply--"

"And I know it feels like there's a lot of weight on your shoulders right now, but in case you missed it, we're all in this together. Teal'c and I have discovered that our primary function on this one is to make sure the two people with the gigantic brains have room to work. So, Captain, tell me what you need."

She sat back with surprise. She hadn't expected a superior officer -- any superior officer, but particularly this one -- to defer to her. She wasn't prepared. "Sir, I don't _know_ what I need."

"Yes, you do. First you need the RFM gizmo to work. And then you had a long list of other things that need to be done -- and a lot of those sounded like things that didn't need your superior intellect. So after the sensors, then what?"

"The air sample."

"Okay, how do I do that?"

She pulled the sample containers out of her supplies and explained to him what needed to be done and when.

"Then?"

"By then I think I'll need Daniel."

"Okay. I'll coordinate with Teal'c and we'll make sure you and Daniel get together. I'll run interference with Eduan, find out what we need to do next. So just take that off your to-do list for the time being. I'll let you know where to be and when to be there."

"Thank you, sir."

Then, with a crooked smile, he was gone.

She wasn't sure what to make of him. He was good, she knew that already. He was cool, irreverent, and sharp. He was all the things she expected out of a spec ops colonel. And he was a lot of things she didn't expect. As it happened he was… _nice_. She wasn't sure if she didn't think he would be or if she'd been so busy trying to impress him, trying to make sure he found her valuable, that she hadn't noticed.

Usually, he was a man of few words. Fewer still were the words said in sincerity. She felt the stress that had been building at the base of her skull begin to ease. He had her back. He wasn't expecting her to fix this all on her own. He wasn't just her CO, he was her teammate, and it felt reassuring, to know he was behind her, not just in front of her, though it was comforting to know he was there, too.

It was different, working with him. Her previous COs had been different animals entirely -- lots of bark, lots of bravado, hard noses. It was, in a way, easier to deal with those men. She'd come from a military family, with a gruff father who was more likely to show his affection for his family by serving the country they lived in than by starting any sort of conversation. Then, there was Jonas whose idea of showing affection usually happened between the sheets. She wasn't used to men who were...helpful.

She wasn't used to men who were all that interested in where she was or what she was doing -- former COs included. She was, generally speaking, doing things that they didn't understand but needed. So they'd give her an order to do something they couldn't fathom and then, when she was done, they'd move on. This...interest...the colonel had in her work left her feeling unsettled, under the microscope and more than a little important.

But important felt a little odd when it was at the hands of Colonel O'Neill. She had the odd feeling she was important less because of what she could do and more because of who she was. He'd given her something important when he'd stood behind her and let her fight for her own freedom, there if things got out of hand, but strangely sure she'd be able to handle herself.

Of course, then she'd used what latitude she'd earned to jump him in the locker room. Not her finest moment, even if she did have what amounted to a heavy case of alien allergies. She wasn't completely inept. She knew she was attractive. She also knew most men, COs or not, wouldn't have shown quite as much control as he managed. Despite the fact that he brushed the whole thing off as something that couldn't really have been helped, and despite the fact that he left the whole thing behind with a joke, it was still embarrassing to think about it. One small memory and she could feel the embarrassment crawl up her back and heat her cheeks.

He didn't seem to be any worse for the wear over it. His smile was still unguarded and easy. He didn't seem to be walking around feeling like she was seconds away from some sort of inappropriateness, even if she did have a way of putting her foot in her mouth like the previous night in the matrimally.

No, she got the feeling that he trusted her. And she liked that. She wasn't used to it, but she liked it. And she thought maybe she'd done what she told him she would -- that she'd made him like her. She liked him. She liked them all. And it made everything feel just a little more attainable.

She dug back into her equations, finally feeling like she might be able to pull this off after all.

An hour and a half later the readings from the last sensor showed up on her diagnostics screen. He did it. She didn't even know he knew anything about RFM, but the proof that he was more brains than brawn, or at least more than he liked to show, was right there on the computer screen in front of her.

Twenty minutes later a noticeable tremor caused the instruments on her table to do a little shimmy. Shortly after the colonel reappeared with three air samples.

"Per the doctor's orders," he said with a rakish grin as he handed them over.  "Do your thing. Teal'c and I figure we'll get you and Daniel together over lunch. Kill two birds with one stone and make sure you two don't keel over from low blood sugar."

"I'm fine, sir," she said, blowing him off in lieu of focusing on the samples.

"You skipped breakfast, Captain. Woman can not live on kevvi alone."

"Daniel's turned coffee into a food group."

"Daniel's strange. And also jonesing. The caffeine content in the local brew isn't nearly as high as he's used to." The colonel plopped down on the stool on the opposite side of her lab table. "So on my way to getting your doohickey up and running, I ran into Eduan."

She loaded the first sample into the mass spectrometer and turned her attention to him. "And?"

"And we're on. Tonight."

"Tonight?"

"Yep."

"Did he tell you anything about it?"

"Just that you needed to go get put back in the getup you love so much."

She groaned, "Well, at least I'll be able to take a shower afterwards."

"You do realize you're Teal'c's favorite, right?"

She ducked her head, blushed a little. "I think I'm okay with that, sir."

"You know, people around here might start getting ideas."

"Ideas?"

"Well, I'm supposed to be the fiance, right? Maybe I should be taking care of your...needs." He grimaced.

She coughed behind her hand. "I think you'll have plenty to do that doesn't include seeing to my bathing situation, sir. Besides, I'm not sure religious people are all that into forced intimacy."

"From your mouth to whatever god they pray to's ears."

She grinned. "Yes, sir."

"So," he said with a clap of his hands, "what's next?"

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

“There's a device," Daniel said excitedly as Sam and the colonel joined him and Teal'c at their usual table in the courtyard.

"What kind of device?" Sam asked and snagged an apple-like piece of fruit from the platter in the middle of the table.

"I don't know," he said, though his voice didn't lose any of the excitement. "The people who were here, they were technologically advanced, Sam. To Earth's current standards, maybe."

"Really?"

"Beyond my people," Teal'c acknowledged.

The colonel fixed plates heaped with food for each of the scientists and fixed Sam with a look when she started to protest the amount of food he handed her. She slipped into a seat on the bench next to Teal'c and across from Daniel. The colonel perched on the table top with one of his favored pastries in his hand.

Daniel dug in with the same vigor he was showing his discovery. " _Advanced_. And," he paused for dramatic effect, "they were aware of the tremors, the element and the way it interacted with the planet's ionosphere."

"So they built a device?" she caught wind of what he was saying and her excitement level rose to join Daniel's.

"They built a device." His grin was massive.

"So where is it?" the colonel asked practically.

"I don't know."

"Daniel--"

"I don't know, _yet_ , Jack."

"It may not even still exist." Sam hated to rain on his parade, but she couldn't help but think it.

"Well, no. But if they built it, maybe somewhere in all the books there are schematics." He reached down next to him and pulled another book from the stack he'd brought. "There's more."

"Of course," the colonel muttered.

"Remember how I said their language seemed to have devolved?" Daniel didn't seem to be discouraged by the colonel's tone. "It's happened before. This is a history book, for lack of a better description. All of this has happened before. And their people have been wiped out by the effects of the tremors. Not just once. Many times. Maybe many, many."

"So this society just keeps, what?" Sam asked. "Starting over?"

"For the most part, yes."

"How does this help us, Daniel?" the colonel prodded.

"It means that if they were able to advance far enough to build a device in the first place, then perhaps they've been able to stop this before. The device might actually work."

"Or it might not and that's why these people have gone back to the dark ages."

"Pre-dark ages," Daniel corrects, "but I get your point, Jack."

"So how does this help us right now?" the colonel asked, ever the strategist.

"It doesn't, not really," Daniel concedes.

"But it's helpful to know that the answer might exist already," Sam offers.

"Yes. And oh! I found some other information you two might find useful. This book," Daniel said plopping a heavy tome onto the table amidst the remains of their lunch, "is all about the marriage rites."

"The entire book?" the colonel questioned warily.

"Yes, Jack. The entire book."

"And?"

"And, well, there's a lot."

"I guessed that by the size of the book, Daniel."

"There are six rites between the hand ceremony Nenetl performed and the actual marriage ceremony."

"The first of which is tonight," the colonel interjected.

"During the first rite you demonstrate your ability to share the innermost parts of yourselves with one another."

"What, exactly, does that mean?" the colonel asked.

"You can ask each other anything, really. There's no set of questions."

"Any question?"

"Sam," Jack interjected, "if there's anything you don't want to talk about, that's fine."

"Well, actually," Daniel started, but the colonel interrupted him.

"She doesn't have to talk about anything she doesn't want to talk about. You're not obligated to tell me the truth, Captain. As long as they think you're telling me everything I want to know, you could give me movie plots. They'd never know." Apparently, her fears were evident on her face.

She was suddenly very afraid of the things he might ask her. And just by telling him what she didn't want to talk about she'd be telling him a lot.   A list of no-go questions would be the surest way to highlight her weaknesses. "Right," she said, not wholly convinced.

"But, Carter, they know I was married before. So they're going to expect you to ask questions about my first marriage or my wife. I don't..." he trailed off uncomfortably.

"It's none of my business, sir," she reassured him.

"As far as they're concerned, it is."

"You don't have to tell me the truth," she offered him in return.

"I'm a lousy liar," he said tiredly. "Just...whatever I say stays between us, all right?"

"I'm a lousy liar, too," she offered. Looked like they'd be telling each other the truth whether they liked it or not.

The colonel studied her closely for a moment, the cleared his throat and shifted his eyes back to Daniel. "Then what?"

"Uh, well, I think the best translation would be _chemistry_."

"Chemistry," the colonel said, nonplussed. "Nevermind," he said tiredly. "Keep 'em coming."

"Okay, just keep in mind these are the nearest translations I could get."

"Daniel," the colonel said warningly.

"Vulnerability, provide, serve, and--" he hesitated.

"What, Daniel?" Sam asked with exasperation.

He hemmed until the colonel nudged him in the ribs with his boot. "Pleasure."

"Christ," the colonel swore. "What was that you said about forced intimacy?" he asked Sam, though he didn't turn his obvious distress towards her.

"Maybe it won't get that far," Daniel offered. "If we can find the device then we could be home before you two even get past whatever it is you're supposed to do tonight."

"Captain Carter and O'Neill should be prepared for the full ceremony," Teal's said pragmatically.

The colonel shot him a withering look. "Thanks, Teal'c."

"Preparedness is the foundation of a solid battle plan, O'Neill."

"They're not going to have to fight each other."

"There is more than one type of battle, Daniel Jackson."

"Okay, kids," the colonel interrupted, "we need to let Carter get back to work. She's got limited time before she's got to go get gussied up for tonight's shenanigans. We start at second sundown."

Sam glanced at her watch. "I've got three hours, then. It'll take them almost an hour to get me dressed."

"Then back to it, you two. Teal'c and I are going to go to the gate for the check in with Hammond. Carter, I'll see you...later."

"Yes, sir."

The colonel was gone before she'd even pushed back from the table.


	6. Chapter 6

When she was dressed in the long, off-white ceremonial shift and her hair had been slicked back and sanded, Ohara came to lead her into small, ornate room where the colonel already sat on one of two tall wooden chairs in the middle of the room separated by a tall, round table. The room was lit in candlelight that made the bejeweled decorations sparkle and bleed warm, rich colors onto the walls. On the table were two tall, thin cups filled with the pulque that Sam was apparently quite sensitive to. She was grateful to see it. Her nerves were bumbling around her stomach and the colonel didn't look much better off.

In one corner, there were two more chairs, soft, stuffed and tucked away. Eduan sat in one and it was clear he and Ohara would be staying. At the tall chairs, the colonel stood nervously when she approached and offered his hand for her to climb onto the chair when it became evident her shift would hinder her movement just enough to make it difficult.

Sam was horrified to discover she was shaking. "Tuhiha," Ohara said softly, "you will be fine. You are sharing yourself with the man you will marry, there is nothing to be nervous about now."

Sam exchanged a glance with the colonel. He took a deep, evident breath and met her eye. He exhaled his tension and gave her a small smile. "Weren't able to convince them to let you wear your BDU's, huh?"

She laughed, all her nerves bubbling up out of her in one quick moment. "No, sir." Though she noticed he was in his uniform pants and a black t-shirt.

Ohara smiled gently, clearly pleased with their interaction. "So," the colonel addressed her, "how does this work?"

"This is your opportunity to ask each other anything, any last remaining questions that were not answered during your engagement. But as you did not have a typical Rorilian engagement, I think there are many things about one another you do not know, am I right?"

"You're not wrong," the colonel said wryly.

"Eduan and I will preside, but unless there's reason, we will not interfere," Ohara assured them. "Anything you say here will not be shared with anyone outside these walls. You're safe here."

"Thank you," Sam said quietly.

Ohara smiled, nodded and made her way to the seat next to her husband.

"So," the colonel said almost shyly, "here we are."

"Yes, sir."

"You want to go first?"

"Um," she stalled, "maybe you should."

"Oh, well, okay," he said, clearly expecting she'd have come prepared with a list of questions she wanted answered. She wasn't sure why he thought she'd be anxious to delve into his personal affairs, though it wasn't any big secret that of all of them, he was most likely to have guarded the personal details of his life before and outside the SGC. He seemed to think for a moment then asked, jumping right in, "So what was the deal with Jonas anyway?"

She knew the question was coming, she just hadn't expected it to come first. "I was young," she said as if that were explanation enough. And in some ways, it probably was.

"How young?"

"Just twenty-two when we first met." She smiled softly, then. "He was so charming, so handsome. It was... _before_. He really was normal, once."

"I'm sure he was, Sam," the colonel said lowly.

"He was...well, he didn't change until we got engaged."

"He became...?" the colonel led.

She dropped her eyes to the table between them and answered embarrassedly, "Controlling. Unpredictable." She paused wondering how honest to be. Then added, "Mean."

"So you broke off the engagement?"

"Not soon enough, but yes, sir. I did."

"Jack.”

"I'm sorry. Sir?"

"My name is Jack. If ever there was a time to not stand on formality, I think this is it."

"Yes, sir," she answered and she caught his smile. She found it wasn't uncomfortable to answer his questions. She found she forgot to be guarded against him. Found that she didn't feel the need to guard her secrets from him. And that felt...strange. She'd never been one to share the intimate details of her life but this man, her CO, seemed to engender in her a trust with which she wasn't familiar.

The colonel's -- Jack's -- gaze turned darker. "When you say mean...did he…"

"No," she answered quickly. Because no, Jonas had never hit her, she'd never given him the chance. He turned mean and she got good at evading him. Never close to him when he wasn't sleeping, it would have been difficult for him to ever land a hand on her. "He didn't. But I think he would have if given the chance."

"Good," he said familiarly and she found that she was rather pleased with his praise. She'd protected herself and he was proud of her. She was glad. He was her CO, of course she was glad. Because he was her CO.

"In high school," she offered, "there was a guy who thought, well, I don't know what he thought, but I think he didn't realize I wasn't a pushover. And there was Mark, so nothing really came of him." She talked around the situation so much she was shocked when he responded.

"You've probably always been easy to underestimate. But the kind of smart you are, Sam? You shouldn't be underestimated. Ever."

She flushed, pleased again because he seemed to say all the right things. If he was any other man, she'd be enamored by now.

"Are you divorced?" she blurted out. It made sense in her mind, thinking about him as a man, a man she'd be interested in under other circumstances.

He had the good grace to chuckle, maybe aware of where her thoughts were leading her. "Yes. About six months ago."

"That's not very long."

"After Charlie," he hesitated, "Sara was...I should have been there for her. I wasn't. When she left it was the best thing for her and it didn't feel right to just… So I just let her, you know, when she was ready. There wasn't any reason to rush it."

"Did you hope--"

"I don't know. Maybe at first. But I don't think we were coming back from it. Not after the way I disappeared on her."

"She still loves you," Sam said, and she felt reckless.

"We'll probably always love each other. The love wasn't a problem. There's more to marriage than love, Sam, no matter what the song says. Love won't keep you together."

"So what will?" With fifteen years or so on her and a marriage under his belt, she felt like she was talking to Yoda.

"It's so hard, you have to really want it. You have to want it all the time. And when Charlie died I couldn't want anything. She'd have...if it had been up to her, we'd have been there for each other. We'd probably still be married." He looked so pained she wished she hadn't have ever asked.

"Do you think you'll ever get married again?"

He didn't answer her, he just raised an eyebrow and quirked his lip.

She blushed. She'd forgotten why they were having the conversation in the first place. Except...they were play acting. Of course, he remembered the importance of the acting far better than she did, apparently. The reasons they had to put on a compelling act were, after all, sitting over in the corner.

"Of course," she deferred. "I meant, _did_ you ever think you'd get married again."

He shook his head. "I didn't give it any thought. It's not like I've had a lot of time to contemplate the future. Besides, our schedule doesn't leave much time for cruising."

She laughed, "No sir, it really doesn't."

"What about you? Did you want to try again? After Jonas?"

"I always thought I would. Then the Stargate Program happened and...my dreams changed."

"No white picket fence and two point four kids in your five year plan?"

"Or ten or fifteen," she acknowledged. "I'm living a dream I didn't even know existed."

"Is it enough?"

"It's more than enough." But she realized she might be lying to him. "Besides," she said, "I never really pictured kids. I didn't...my mom died when I was a teenager, you know? And then I went into the military. It just doesn't seem right. I'm not...maternal."

She picked up one of the glasses between them but she just turned it around in her hands.

"This isn't as hard as I thought it would be," she said. "Thank you."

"I get the feeling you don't open up too much, Sam."

She chuckled, "I don't think you do either."

"No," he acknowledged. "But you're right -- not as hard as it could have been."

"It helps to know it's just us. That I'm not going to have turn around and play twenty-more-questions with Daniel."

"He means well," Jack says. "He's a good guy. Could be a good friend."

"He's _your_ friend."

"Hey," he said, mock incensed, "I can share."

She laughed outright, felt like a pressure valve had been released. "I'll keep that in mind."

"It's good to have friends," he said as if somehow intrinsically aware that she wasn't exactly full up on friends.

"We're not supposed to be friends," she pointed out.

"We're also not supposed to get married, but I'm guessing this isn't the last time we're going to trip over some unknown ceremony. Things like this might be easier if we're friendly.

"I'm not sure anything would have made this easier."

"You're worried about all the stuff that comes next."

"I'm worried about _some_ of the stuff that comes next."

"Me too," he admitted. "But I've got your back."

She ducked her head, hid the flush on her cheeks, yet again, from him. "Thank you." It felt strange to offer him the same sentiment when he likely didn't need it, but she offered it just the same. "I've got yours too."

The smile he gave her was full and genuine and it made her stomach knot then turn over. She didn't want to like his smile, the straight line of his teeth, the glint in his eyes, the cut of his jaw, but damn. She did.

He looked over his shoulder at Eduan and Ohara, "How long is this supposed to go on?"

Ohara smiled knowingly, "Until you are done, O'Neill."

He looked back at Sam. "Okay, well, what's your favorite color?"

And they laughed.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

After a hot shower -- again courtesy of Teal'c -- and verifying all the sparkly sand had been washed away from the previous night's ritual, Sam walked into Scholar's Hall with a fresh, hot cup of kevvi and her sheaf of notes. She set the kevvi down in front of Daniel who didn't even bother to look up from his books when he muttered a "thank you," and patted a hand in her general direction catching his fingertips on her forearm.

"Any luck?" she asked him.

"I think so. Just...give me a minute," he said.

She blew off his frustrated-with-being-interrupted voice because she'd known him just long enough to know it wasn't personal. "Take your time," she said and wandered off to look at the vast shelves of books -- some of which looked entirely too old and entirely too well bound to be part of the library. She guessed they really did have a more advanced society at some point.

She continued the pretense of looking at her surroundings, just in case Daniel decided to give her the time of day but inside, she was still reeling from her conversation with Jack. A love of Puccini came as a surprise. A love of hockey didn't. Finding out he worked his ass off to get into the academy because his family couldn't afford to send him to college and he'd wanted to be a pilot made him seem more tangible and touchable than anything else he'd told her.

The fact that she could have babysat his son while she was a senior in high school didn't do her brain any favors, but it's not like she didn't know he was older before hand.  And while she was getting ready to go to the Gulf War, the tail end of it, he'd been on his way home to his wife and son after being a POW for four months.

As it turned out, he was funny, sharp, kind, reasonably open and relatable. By the time she walked away from him, by the time they'd spent a couple of hours tackling the hard stuff and after she'd seen more than her fair share of his full blown smiles, she had a rather uncomfortable crush on her CO.

She'd certainly never known a CO as well as she now knew Jack. It was interesting to really know the man behind the orders. It also made her feel like she  was on the inside of a very exclusive circle having information about him not even their other teammates might have. Though she suspected Daniel knew at least some of what he'd told her since he and Daniel were such good friends.

Finally Daniel looked up at her. "Hey," he said almost sleepily. "You're a woman."

"Uh...yeah."

"You're not supposed to be in here."

Sam scoffed, "Then let them kick me out."

"Are you sure you want to get on their bad side?"

"I'm already on their bad side, Daniel. What are they going to make me do? Marry my commanding officer?"

"Don't you think once is going to be enough?" asked said CO from the top of the short staircase that descended into the room.

"I do not believe you can marry the same person more than once concurrently, O'Neill," Teal'c observed.

"You know, buddy? You have no sense of humor."

"Indeed, I do. Your jokes are not funny."

"Ouch, Teal'c. Ouch."

Sam grinned, then flushed, then ducked her head just as the colonel caught her look and tilted his head to the side with something that looked like mild interest. Great. Did he know she was having inappropriate feelings about him? She hoped not. All she needed to do was get ahold of herself. It was the forced connection, nothing more. She'd served with hundreds of good looking guys, she'd be damned if this was the time she couldn't keep her eye on the straight and narrow.

"So whatcha got, Danny?" Jack asked boisterously.

Daniel shot him a dirty look. "A headache, Jack."

"Sorry," he said, but he didn't look sorry at all.

"I've also got good news," Daniel conceded.

"Well?" Jack prompted when he didn't continue, but Daniel was taking long pulls of his fresh, hot kevvi so they just had to wait.

"I know where the device is. You know, if it still exists."

"You don't think you should have led with that?"

"It's a pretty big if, Jack. It's been over five hundred years."

"Wow," Sam breathed. "So long."

"So where is it?" Jack asked, unimpressed.

"There are caves in the mountains where Sam's set up her sensors. It's somewhere inside."

"Can you narrow it down at all?" Sam asked, pulling a bit of Jack's attitude.

He shot her a glance and a wry smile. "You've officially spent too much time with me, Carter."

 _Carter_. Okay, clearly he wasn't having the same trouble she was having. Separating the her from the marriage rites with the her who is his second seemed to come more naturally for him than it did for her to do the same between _Jack_ and _sir_.

"Well, it doesn't matter who asks or how," Daniel interjectected. "I can't narrow it down. There's no map nor any mention of one."

"Sounds like we're going to have to do a little spelunking," _the colonel_ said.

"I do not like the sound of that word, O'Neill."

"Exploring, Teal'c. The caves."

The big man nodded his head. "In that case, I agree."

"We'll head out this afternoon," Jack decides. If we don't find it by nightfall then we'll go out again tomorrow morning. Carter and I are off the clock until tomorrow night anyway."

"Maybe we can find it and utilize it before the two of you have to do any more of the rites," Daniel tried.

"Let's hope so," the colonel said, but she thought she detected a bit of disappointment in his voice.

Wishful thinking, she was sure.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: I've really got to thank by beta extraordinaire, fems, for all her help getting me back on track with this story. Couldn't have done it without you, girl!


	7. Chapter 7

When asked, Baurton agreed to send two men familiar with the mountains and caves with SG-1 to look for the device. Their guides were helpful, but quiet.

"When do we spelunk, O'Neill?" Teal'c wanted to know.

"That's what we're doing," Jack answered as he ducked through a short, narrow opening. Sam followed behind him and was amazed to see the room open up into a cavern more than two men high and large enough to hold half the village. There were several openings in the walls some of which, when prodded, only went a few feet back and others that branched off the main room. "Teal'c, Daniel, why don't you take...this guide here," Jack tried for the name and ended up gesturing.

"Amoxtli," Daniel corrected him.

"Right. And head down the left path. Carter and I will take Coatl and check out the right. We'll meet back here in," he checked his watch, gauged the time of second sun down and allowed enough time to walk back to the village, Sam could see the gears turning, "three hours."

"That's not going to be enough time, Jack! Who knows what we'll discover in these caves. I need to--"

"Three hours, Daniel."

"All right, all right," the archaeologist grumbled. "Three hours. See you then. Come on, Teal'c." He stalked off towards the left hand opening.

Jack and Sam set off in the other direction, trailed by Coatl.

"What are the chances we find this device intact, Carter?"

"I don't know, sir. Better, knowing it's in the caves than if it were out and exposed to the elements."

"So what, exactly, does this thing do?"

"We're not sure," Sam answered. The colonel opened his mouth to retort and she put up a hand to forestall him. " _Yet_. Daniel's new favorite word. The books seem to indicate that this device can halt the seismic activity, though how it would do that I couldn't even venture a guess right now.

"We know that the tremors cause UME-001 to be released into the atmosphere and, at that point, the metal interacts with the planet's ionosphere."

"I'm with you to that point."

"But what we don't know is exactly how that's happening. The air samples I had you take indicate that the presence of the metal spikes just after the tremors but, as time goes on, the levels begin to drop. The trouble is, if the metal is causing the tremors, but the tremors release the metal that causes the tremors, why are the levels dropping between seismic activity?"

"Right." he said uncertainly.

"If I had to guess, I'd say the device had some way to neutralize the reactions of the metal and the other particles in the ionosphere. But I can't imagine how a device small enough to be stowed could possibly have that level of impact."

"We've seen stranger, haven't we?"

"We've seen a lot," she conceded.

"So what happens when we find the device?"

"Well, first we hope we can find some information in the books about it. Perhaps, once we know what it looks like, it'll be easier to find information."

"Like maybe someone drew a picture of it somewhere."

She smiled at him. "Yes, sir."

"Then what?"

"Well, I guess I get to start testing it, see if I can figure out what it does and how it does it without the help of the books -- just in case."

"So what you're telling me is we've got a whole lot of crossing our fingers ahead of us."

"Yes, sir."

"Great."

They walked along in silence for a little while until the tunnel they were following opened up into another large cavern. Inside the cavern were definite signs of life. Or, what once was life. "Carter, pinch me or something. This looks promising."

After walking for an hour, she could appreciate the sentiment but she wasn't as optimistic. "I don't think they'd have hidden the device where people were bound to find it, sir."

"Twenty bucks says the device is in this cavern somewhere."

"I don't want your money, sir," she laughed.

"Okay, well, first question in the next session says the device is in this cavern somewhere."

He smiled but she sobered. The next rite. Connection. _Chemistry_. What would they be asked to do? Still a day away and she was already uncomfortable with the idea. Not that she felt as disconnected from him as she did when the whole thing started. And the idea of having to touch him -- if she had to touch him -- was a lot more reasonable than it had been just a few days before. But it seemed her traitorous libido wanted the opportunity to pipe up about just how much she'd like to touch him. And she couldn't have that. No, not at all.

While she'd been lost in thought, the colonel had begun poking around the room. "We've got two tunnels leading away from this room."

"And not enough time to explore both."

"Left or right?"

"How should I know?"

"I thought you might take a scientific stab at it."

"I'm the wrong scientist for that."

He winked at her. Winked. Her stomach flipped over. Yeah, they had chemistry all right. Well, she had chemistry with him. Who knew how he felt? And at the end of the day, did it matter so long as he could act even a little? She had a feeling he could act more than a little. Besides, how hard would it be to fake a little connection between the two of them. They were, after all, becoming friends. And they had been working together for over six months. "Piece of cake."

"Huh?" Jack looked up from the patch of dusty floor he was tracing patterns in with the toe of his boot. "What's a piece of cake?"

She hadn't realized she'd spoken aloud. She could fess up to what she was thinking about or she could blow it, blow him, off. She chose the road less traveled. "Tomorrow's rite. I think it's going to be fine. Easy."

He raised an eyebrow at her, "Yeah?"

"Why? Don't you?"

"Well, I dunno. I'm a little worried about it being uncomfortable. Aren't you?"

"I guess it depends on how much...contact...they're looking for."

"Contact?" he asked with a gulp.

"Well, it's a ritual concerning chemistry and connection, I'd think there'd be at least a little touching. Right?" she asked uncertainly. "Okay, maybe not such a piece of cake after all."

"We need to pull our act together, Carter. If we show up like this tomorrow night, we're going to fail."

"Can we really fail? And what happens if we have no chemistry? Do you think it all stops? We can't get married?" She busied herself pulling her canteen off her pack.

He considered her carefully. "Maybe you haven't noticed, Carter, but we've got chemistry."

She sputtered her water. "Excuse me?!"

He chuckled lowly. "It's not something that can be faked. And it's not necessarily sexual, Sam. Chemistry's just...synchronicity. We work together too well to think we don't have it."

"Oh." She hoped she didn't sound as disappointed with his answer as she felt.

"So we're not going to have to fake that part. But yeah, I'm a little worried about how close all this is going to bring us."

"Why?" she asked immediately, then suddenly wished her mouth didn't have a mind of its own.

"I don't want to make you uncomfortable, Sam. And forced intimacy of any kind, even just friendly, can make people feel...uncomfortable."

"You don't make me uncomfortable, sir. Not anymore." She thought back to their game of cards that first night of the engagement.

"Good."

"The whole situation makes me a little uncomfortable, but I'm lucky it's you, I think." She finally said out loud what she'd been thinking all along.

"Yeah?"

"Yes, sir."

"Okay then." He said definitively. He looked back over at the tunnels leading out of the room. "How about the right path. It looks like the one less traveled. Makes for a better hiding place."

She pulled her knife off her thigh and carved an X next to the tunnel that led back to the main cavern where they left Daniel and Teal'c. "Sounds good to me, sir."

Half an hour later, though, they hadn't come across anything buta very narrow tunnel that forced them to shimmy through some spaces doing a crab walk. "I think it's time we turned around, Captain."

"We'll need to beat feet to get back by rendezvous," she agreed.

"Yeah, this isn't looking good, is it?"

"Maybe Daniel and Teal'c found it."

"We can hope."

But Teal'c and Daniel didn't find the device. And the team made plans to explore the slim tunnel again the next morning.

So, after breakfast, SG-1 convened in the main cavern. Teal'c stayed behind with their guides since he wouldn't fit down the tunnel, at least not relatively comfortably, and Daniel, Sam and Jack went on to see if they could locate the device.

Sam was grateful for the company, unsure whether or not she could stand a morning alone with Jack knowing they'd be undergoing another marriage rite that very evening.

Two hours of shimmying later, the tunnel opened into a small room where, in a little alcove, sat a small device the size of a coleman lantern.

"That must be it," Daniel said quietly and with reverence.

"Why are you whispering?" Jack asked him, and strode forward to grab the device with little ceremony.

"We're looking at technology that has been sitting here for hundreds of years, Jack. At least." Daniel said perturbedly.

"Yeah, well, it's coming with us now," said the colonel.

"Can I see it, sir?"

He held it up so she could shine her flashlight on it and examine it from all angles. "It doesn't look very remarkable, does it?"

"It doesn't need to look remarkable. It needs to work."

"It'll work," Daniel posited.

"We don't know that." Sam tried to bring the expectation level down, just in case.

"It has to," Daniel insisted.

"I think that's supposed to be our line," Jack said flicking the light between himself and her.

"I'll do my best, Daniel. Just...find the right book, okay? I'm sure it will help."

"Now that I've seen it, I'm sure I'll be able to find something."

"If the book still exists." Wow. When did she get to be such a Debbie Downer? Shouldn't she be rallying for the device to work? And what then? They go home? Her time gettingto know Jack would be over. And she was afraid her new desire to get to know him the best she could, circumstances be damned, might be trumping her desire to stop the destruction of the Rorilian people.

Oh, that wasn't good. Not good at all.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Eduan was not pleased to see the device. Nor did he believe it could do what Sam and Daniel claimed it did.

"The technology of those who came before is forbidden to us!" he insisted.

"So you knew technology existed?" Sam asked perplexed and a little angry.

"We knew that those who came before were significantly further advanced than our people are now," Ohara said gently. "We did not know they had created a device they believed would stop the tremors."

"Only the appeasement of our god can stop the village from crumbling!"

"You are a feeble minded old man," Baurton spat. "Look at what is in front of you."

"I haven't made it work yet," Sam interjected. "I don't even know if I can."

"You will have men, half a dozen or more, to go through the old teachings," Baurton promised.

"I don't think I need that many," Daniel put in. Sam could see on his face that the idea of that many people interfering with his carefully organized chaos in Scholar's Hall was enough to give him palpitations.

"He's probably right, Baurton, but thank you. I think we can manage, but I do need more time with the device."

"The time available has already been negotiated." Eduan made a step towards the device with a menacing look on his face.

"Oh, whoa, whoa," Jack said and held it above his head, taking a quick step back. "Watch it, Eduan. No one's said we're backing out on our end of the deal. Sam's just saying she needs to keep studying the device before we know how it works."

"It will not work!" he insisted.

"It might." Sam said at the same time Daniel countered, "It will!"

"Okay, boys and girls," the colonel jumped in, "let's all take a step back. Eduan, the discovery of the device doesn't change anything about our deal with you, it just gives Carter a better chance at solving your problem in case this whole appease the gods thing doesn't work out."

"You are blasphemers, the lot of you." Eduan sneered.

"They are scientists," Baurton sneered right back.

"I'm just trying to help." Sam said and spread her hands in supplication. "And I think this device will help me do that. But I need time to study it."

"And tonight you will undergo the second marriage rite, or so help me girl you will be put in the stockade!"

Teal'c stepped up behind Sam and she could feel him vibrating with the want of his staff weapon.

"What did I tell you about calling her _girl_?" the colonel jumped in, hot headed.

"Enough." Ohara said lowly and with great authority. The tone of her voice caused the hairs on the back of Sam's neck to stand up. "This fight gets us nowhere."

Eduan seemed to deflate under his wife's admonition. "You are free to carry on," he conceded and turned and stalked away.

"That went well," the colonel quipped.

Sam couldn't help a little chuckle once the threat of Eduan and Baurton had left. "Yes, sir. Piece of cake."

He grinned at her. "I like cake." She grinned back.

Three hours later she was in her lab still poking and prodding at the device in hopes something about it would start to make sense. So far, to her, it appeared like little more than a filter and a power source inside the shell of a camping lantern. How it was ever supposed to stop something as massive as an earthquake she couldn't even begin to fathom.

Footsteps alerted her to someone coming down the hall. She thought it was Daniel, finally, with some sort of a book outlining the design of the device.

Instead, Eduan breezed through the door.

"You push me too far."

Without the rest of her team around, she found herself wary in his presence. "I'm sorry, that's not my intention. I really do want to help."

"I have told you _precisely_ how to help!" he yelled.

"And I intend to continue on."

"Yes, you will continue on," he said in a threatening voice.

"I get the impression you think I'm not doing my part."

"You waste time! These rites are meant to take place over one week. I have given and given, made concessions to your timetable and you still treat me and my religion as if we were fools!"

"I didn't know that," Sam tries to appease him. "Really, I didn't know about the one week thing. You've never said. We're not trying to be difficult, but I really do need time to be able to do research."

"On what? On this device?"

"It seems like the best bet right now. If I can figure out how it works, it might be quicker than starting from scratch the way I had been."

"And how much time to do you think you need?"

"I wish I knew."

"Your days? Your evenings?"

"Yes," she said exasperated and, apparently completely missing the point.

He swept his hand out and across her desk knocking her notes and the device to the floor. It fell with a smash and broke into a half a dozen pieces.

Sam gasped, "What?! Why?"

"Now, your evenings are free. You will perform a rite each evening until the ceremony is complete. My village will not be torn asunder while you waste time with frivolities." Eduan collected his robes in one hand, turned and swept out of the room. "Tonight, girl, you will continue onward."

She collected the pieces of the device and carried them, likely more carefully than was necessary, to Scholar's Hall where Daniel, Teal'c and the colonel were all pouring through books looking for pictures of the device. She set the pieces gently in the middle of the table and didn't say a word.

"Jesus, Carter. What happened?" Jack asked.

That caused Daniel to look up and see the shattered device. "Oh no! Sam!"

"It wasn't me," she said but didn't elaborate.

She didn't have to. "That rat assed son of a bastard," the colonel growled.

"He said now I'll have my evenings free to perform the rituals. And we're to have one each evening until the ceremony is complete."

"That means we have six days to find the schematics for the device and to fix it," Daniel calculated quickly.

"Six days," Sam agreed with a solemn nod.

The colonel sighed grievously.

"Then perhaps we should get back to work," Teal'c said, and turned the page in the book he was working from.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

After the setting of the second sun, Sam and Jack were once again in the small, candlelit room. The room was set without the tall chairs and table. Large, comfortable looking pillows were on the floor, one right next to the other.

"Please," Ohara said gently, "sit down facing one another."

"Oh, my knees aren't going to like this," Jack grumbled.

"At least you're not in a dress," Sam countered.

Still, he managed to sit down fluidly enough then held up a hand so she could lower herself as gracefully as possible without hiking her dress up over her knees. But she did, apparently,flash him a little leg, because he smiled at her.

"Are you really keeping your legs shaved off world?"

She blushed. "I'm wearing a dress off world, aren't I?"

He laughed, "Carter, you're mystery."

"Hey, you keep your face shaved, don't you?"

"Only because regulations say I have to."

"I bet you'd look good with a little scruff," she said and felt herself blush from the roots of her hair down her neck. He just chuckled. "Oh my god. I'm sorry. That was inappro--"

He waved her off, "Don't worry about it."

Ohara, for her part, was smiling at them both. "Tonight, I will lead you through the work. As before, Eduan will be observing from there." She pointed to the corner of the room where Eduan sat scowling. "Please forgive my husband, he is in a mood tonight."

" _Tonight_?" Jack whispered conspiratorially for Sam's ears only. She obliged him with a small smile.

"I'm going to ask you to begin by looking at one another. Really look," Ohara said jumping right in. "I will guide you. Begin by seeing your partner's body, whole and complete in front of you."

Sam giggled nervously. Look at her CO's body? That was precisely the sort of thing she wasn't supposed to do. But look she did. He sat in front of her, legs in some twisted version of the lotus position, hands resting nervously on his knees. There was tension through his torso into his shoulders. She realized she must look the same and took a couple deep breaths and forced herself to relax. She watched as he followed her lead.

She trailed her eyes from his now loosened shoulders up his neck. She could see the tan line at his t-shirt collar and it made her feel warm, loose and slightly fuzzy to know she was seeing a part of him even the sun rarely did. Her eyes moved up to his freshly shaven face and that made her smile again. She noticed his chiseled jaw, the hollows of his cheeks, the scar in his eyebrow, the soft-looking brown hair.

"Now, look into your intended's eyes. Hold their gaze. It may become uncomfortable. Do not look away."

She took a moment, gathered herself, then looked into his eyes to find him already looking at her. When it began, his eyes were smiling, but the longer their eyes held, he began to look at her as if she were a puzzle he had to figure out. She felt like he was a puzzle from the moment she'd looked into his eyes. Though those eyes smiled, she felt like there were so many things in them she just had to ask about; but that part of the ceremony was over, she should have asked the night before. Or maybe she could scrounge up the courage to ask outside the walls of the ritual room.

When she'd looked her fill, she was still supposed to be looking. It did become, as Ohara warned, slightly uncomfortable. There was a barrier between the normal looking, the moment of discomfort she was experiencing and what was about to come next, she could feel herself pushing through it. Suddenly, it wasn't uncomfortable anymore. It was natural. She was looking into the eyes of someone she knew intrinsically. It was like she'd bonded with him on a level she'd never thought to. She began to enjoy it.

"I'd like you to join hands please."

Without sparing a thought for the propriety of the move, Sam reached out and clasped hands with Jack who hadn't hesitated either.

"Feel your partner's fingers, the lines, the bends, the smoothness of the palm. Concentrate until you can feel your intended's heartbeat. When you can, squeeze their hand gently, so they know."

Within moments, Jack squeezed her hands. She wasn't surprised with the way her heart was thundering in her chest. She could count on one hand the number of men she'd been intimate with in her life and never, not once, had she felt the connection to them that she felt to Jack in that moment. "And you haven't really even touched me," she murmured.

"I know," he said quietly, almost in awe and she was surprised to find she'd spoken aloud.

"It is okay to speak," Ohara assured them. "But only when you must."

She was, by then, intimately aware of the pulse of his own heart in his hands -- she could feel it beat in counterpoint to hers. Her, him. Her, him. Her, him.

Sam swallowed and nodded, never once breaking eye contact with Jack.

"Sam, release his hands, reach for him, touch his face. Hold it in your palm. Let him feel the way you will touch him when you are his wife."

Startled with the request, Sam looked up at Ohara. But it was Jack's voice that brought her back. "It's okay."

Slowly, she slid her fingers into the hair at his temple and cupped his face in her palm. His hair was just as soft as it looked and his skin was warm. She could feel it when he blinked slowly, his eyes relaxing and then slipping closed. His lips parted as he inhaled and exhaled. She felt like falling into him. It was too much, too fast. She looked away and dropped her hand.

"I'm sorry," she said. "Can we stop a minute?"

"What is the trouble, Tuhiha?"

"Sam," Jack said quietly. "No, look at me." He waited until she'd met his eyes again. "It's okay." His reassurance that the clear disregard for the regulations was fine in this instance just made it feel more wrong.

"No," she shook her head, "it's not."

"It's the situation, that's all. Connection, right?"

Then he'd felt it, too. "It's too much," she said and was embarrassed to find her voice thick in her throat.

He reached for her, wrapped his warm fingers around her forearm. "Let's just get this done. We can talk about it later."

"I don't want to talk about it," she said quietly. She purposely focused on Ohara to give herself an opportunity to shake off the way Jack was making her feel. Not completely, just enough that she could continue.

"Sam," Ohara said, "this is a difficult rite of passage, I know. But we are nearly done. You are doing well."

"Okay," she said, "I can finish."

"Then we will continue."

"Jack, now it is you. Hold her head in your hands, show her how you'll surround her when you are her husband."

Jack swallowed then reached for her. Gently he sunk his fingers into her hair, wrapped his long fingers around the back of her head, then slid his hands, slowly forward, until her jaws rested in his palms. It wasn't a touch nearly as much as a caress. She shuddered. She felt the warmth of his skin clear down into the center of her body.

He smiled crookedly, disarmingly. "I guess chemistry isn't a problem," he said quietly.

She turned her face into one of his hands, never dropping his eyes. She watched as his pupils dilated even further in the low light. "No, I guess not."

What she was sure must have been unconsciously, he leaned toward her, over his legs. Just as he breached the halfway point between them Ohara laughed musically. "No, no, Tuhile. You must not kiss her."

Jack sat back, stunned. They both must have realized exactly at that moment that was precisely what he was going to do.

"Tuhile," Sam murmured huskily. "That must be the masculine form of Tuhiha."

"Yeah," he said in an equally husky voice. But it didn't matter what they were saying, just that they were shaking off whatever spell his hands on her had placed them under.

He turned to look up at Ohara. "We're supposed to be getting married and I can't even kiss her?" he voice took on an ironic tone as he shook off the huskiness.

"Not yet, no." She said with a knowing smile.

Sam cleared her throat. "Are we done?"

"The purpose of the exercise was to demonstrate a connection between you. I think we've done that. Yes, we are done."

"Good," Sam said. She jumped to her feet and fled.


	8. Chapter 8

It was pretty tough to avoid Jack when he'd appointed himself her personal sitter. That didn't mean she didn't try. She started her day by skipping breakfast and taking a briskly cool shower to remove the last of the ceremonial sand from her hair. She liked the showers better when Teal'c was in charge -- at least the water was gloriously warm.

All she could think when Jack showed up mid-morning with hot kevvi and one of the delicious pastries was that she'd almost _kissed_ him. Or...he'd almost kissed her. Not that the distinction really mattered. She'd almost been kissing her commanding officer! Chemistry or no, that was a definite violation of the regulations. Not that maintaining strict adherence to the regulations was completely possible under the current circumstances. But that didn't matter, because she absolutely, positively should not  be kissing her CO. Even if she really did want to kiss him. Which she didn't. Definitely not.

Of course, the entire inner battle took place as she stood on one side of her lab table and he stood on the other. In the silence that reigned he had the opportunity to figure out exactly what she was thinking. "Stop it, Carter."

"Stop what?"

"Over thinking last night. It happened, that's it."

"It didn't really happen though, did it?"

He raised an eyebrow at her. "Under the circumstances, I'd have thought you were glad about that."

"Under what circumstances?"

"Well, you're being awfully jumpy about the whole thing."

"I don't think you're being jumpy enough!" she countered and immediate flushed scarlet. "I mean," she said more calmly, "what happened between us, what almost happened between us -- that shouldn't have...happened."

"Well, it did. We can either turn it into a thing to be upset about or we can just chalk it up to what we're going through and be adults about it."

"Why do I get the feeling you're calling me immature?"

"Well," he said with a chuckle, "you do seem to be pretty flustered by something that didn't actually happen."

She relaxed then. He was right. "Okay, a little."

"Last night was pretty intense," he ventured.

"Yeah…"

"And clearly you're uncomfortable about that."

"You're not?" she asked incredulously.

"Not really, no."

"How?"

"Well, we knew this was coming, right?"

"Knowing it's coming and experiencing it are two different things. And we can say all we want about not making each other uncomfortable, but it was _uncomfortable_."

"Parts of it weren't so bad," he said smoothly and in a way that made her go all soft and gooey. She'd wonder if he knew he flirted but he seemed like a man who only ever did it on purpose.

She couldn't help but smile at that, at the memory of feeling of his warm hands in hers, the soft feeling of his hair between her fingers. "No, not all bad."

"Sam, you know this is going to get worse before it gets better, right?"

"Worse?"

"More uncomfortable."

"I gathered. Considering the last rite is--"

He cut her off, "Yeah."

"See? You're uncomfortable too."

"About that one? Yeah, a little. But only because you seem so damned uncomfortable by the fact that I almost kissed you."

Oh. _Oh. That's_ why he was concerned? Because he thought _he_ was making her uncomfortable. "No, Jack," she breathed.

"'No, Jack?'" He raised an eyebrow and apparently tried to look more nonplussed than perplexed though he didn't really succeed.

"It's not you. It's the situation. And yes, that _other_ rite is probably going to make me uncomfortable, too, but _not_ because it's you. Because it's what it is and no matter how hard I try, I can't erase eleven years of abiding by Air Force regulations."

"Try twenty-seven."

Yet another reminder he was significantly older and more experienced than she. Could he, did he want to, see past her admittedly large intellect? It could be, in all fairness, something that would only come in handy for him if she was his second in command. Even still, after the previous night's events, she wasn't sure why she still thought the age difference was an issue in the slightest. Not that she was looking for ways to make something between them work because that was out of the question. Completely out of the question.

"Okay, how about we stop talking about how uncomfortable it was? I'm getting pretty tired of saying it."

He smiled at her. "I think that sounds like a good idea."

"And we'll just chalk this whole thing up to _things that shouldn't have happened_."

He sobered. "You know what makes this worse? You keep putting those walls up. This isn't some close your eyes and think of England thing."

She blushed. "We hope."

"I thought you had a theory about religion and forced intimacy."

And until she'd started going through the Rorilian marriage rites, she had. In fact, she'd have put money the notion she wasn't going to have to get up close and personal with Jack for any reason. And then, well, "And then last night happened."

"You want me to see if I can get any information out of Ohara about the last rite?"

"I'm not sure I want to know."

"Forewarned is forearmed?"

"Ignorance is bliss?"

His smile had the usual effect -- her stomach did a somersault inside her. And she was starting to really like the sound of his voice. He sounded smooth, silky and reassuring when he said, "We've got a few more days if you change your mind."

"Yeah. I mean...did you want to know?"

"I think knowing would make me overthink it."

"There's no such thing as over-thinking."

"I happen to disagree, Captain," he said jauntily. "I'm gonna go check in with Daniel. See how things are going with the book."

"Yes, sir," she said, slipping easily back into their work roles, more easily that she thought she'd be able to. "That would be good. I haven't been making much progress trying to get the device back together on my own."

"All right. Later then, Carter."

She went back to work on the device. It was like a puzzle for which the box had been lost and the picture was something she couldn't even fathom because she'd never seen one before. No matter what she tried, she couldn't get the device to work -- even when it seemed like she had all the pieces back where they belonged.

For several hours she poked and prodded, took it apart and put it back together, hooked it up to sensors and electrodes and still, nothing. It might have well have been a fancy paperweight.

Sam had to stop working as a stronger-than-previous-tremors shudder worked its way across the village. She held onto the device even though it likely wouldn't be less trouble to get it working if it was in even smaller pieces.

It wasn't until her stomach growled that she realized she'd worked through lunch. Odd, that Jack hadn't come in to usher her away. Curious, she made her way to scholars hall where, before entry, she was stopped by several of Baurton's men who refused to allow her to pass into the apparently-all-male-zone. One went to get the colonel while she waited.

"Carter!" he said jovially. "We were just about to come get you."

Behind him Daniel appeared, his arms filled with books. "Sam! We found it!"

"What? Really?!"

"Blueprints and everything," he said, through the throng of people that separated them.

"This seems almost too good to be true."

Daniel shouldered through the crowd until he was next to her and they were walking out of the building. "It is."

"Oh no. What?"

"The instructions are written in the original language and I haven't worked it out nearly as much as the current writings."

"Okay, well, you can do it, right?"

"In just a few days? I don't know, Sam. I don't know if I'll be able to stop the ceremony."

She stopped walking, Daniel came up short beside her. "This isn't about stopping the ceremony. This is about stopping this village from crumbling to the ground. I don't care if we have to go through with this, because even if we do, this planet is still going to ruins if we can't stop the tremors. Even if Jack and I finish the ceremony there's still going to be a planet to save, no matter what the religious zealots want to believe."

"Jack, huh?" he said slyly, clearly thinking he'd caught her in something. Maybe he had.

"What? You want me to call him 'Colonel O'Neill' with all that's going on?" she said with more bravado than she felt.

"I just never thought I'd hear you call him Jack."

"Just...figure out how to translate the damn blueprints," she said and stalked off towards their lunch table. Daniel. Worse than her brother, he really was.

\--.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Later that evening, after first sundown and before second, when she was just getting up from their dinner table to go get dressed, Daniel stopped her.

"Sam, listen…" he hesitated.

"What, Daniel?" she still felt a little snippy with him, but he didn't deserve too hard a time.

Daniel cast a furtive glance at Jack who raised an eyebrow then, with a small nod, walked off with Teal'c. "About Jack…"

" _What_ , Daniel?"

"He's...Jack's... look, he's a good guy, okay?"

"Um...okay…"

"I mean, he's a _really_ good guy. His sense of honor is really strong and he wouldn't want to do anything to make you uncomfortable."

A laugh bubbled up out of her at the word. "Oh my god. Did he really send you over to talk to me at the lunch table?"

Daniel frowned then scratched the side of his head. "Uh, yeah, well, I guess he did."

"Daniel, thank you, but this is unnecessary. Thank him for me too, and tell him I'll see him at the ceremony."

After second sun down, when she was sanded and decked out in the shift dress, she found Jack back in the ritual room, candles lit, and the tall table and chairs back in place. Once again he held out a hand to help her into her chair.

"So, Cindy passed me a note in study hall that said--"

"All right, all right," he huffed, "Daniel told me you weren't impressed with my methods."

"Actually, I told him to thank you; it was sweet. Unnecessary, but sweet. I know you're a good guy--"

"Is _that_ what he told you? Jesus," he swore.

"If it makes you feel better, he caught me calling you Jack earlier. I think he's enjoying this, to be honest."

"Teal'c's been pretty funny about it too."

"Teal'c? Funny?"

"I think they're both getting a kick out of it."

"Well, I have to admit, I'd be the one laughing if it were them."

"Yeah," he said goodnaturedly. "I guess you're right." He sobered a little. "You ready for this?"

"As comfortable as I'm going to get," she teased.

At that moment, Eduan and Ohara arrived. "Good, you're both here," she said as she breezed in on the scent of lavender.

"We apologize for the delay. My husband and I were deep in conversation," she shot him a perturbed look that wasn't lost on Sam and, after glancing at Jack, confirmed he hadn't missed it either.

"Tonight, you shall reveal your weakness and vulnerabilities to your intended."

Oh, great. Sam wasn't sure this was really the best idea. All other things aside, one of the most important parts about working on a military team was the feeling that no matter what the issue, no matter what the target, that the team had the will and ability to prevail. Opening the two of them up to their foibles was surely a recipe for later disaster. How could he trust her to do her job if he knew the things about her that made her weak? The stupid things that she knew better than to feel but felt anyway?

For his part, Jack didn't look too comfortable with the notion either.

"This is not about your fears of heights or insects," Ohara explained. "This is about your weaknesses in the way you relate to other people. You should tell each other what you fear will break down communication in your marriage."

"Oh," Sam said quietly, though that wasn't much better. _By the way, sir, when you question me it makes me second guess my decisions; not the one you questioned but all the rest I'll make until I have an opportunity to be away from you for a while._ Or, really, any number of stupid, revealing things.

"O'Neill," Ohara prodded gently. "Perhaps you should begin."

Apparently the near abject terror and nauseousness Sam was feeling were plain on her face. Not that Jack looked much better, really.

"What makes you vulnerable, O'Neill."

He searched Sam's eyes. For what she wasn't sure. Permission? Acceptance? Support? "Kids," he said quietly. "Always kids. They're my number one priority, always. No matter what else is going on."

"That's understandable," Sam said. And it was. After what had happened with his son, of course kids and their safety would be his priority. Of course, it was likely that Ohara took his statements differently, that what he wanted out of a relationship with his wife would be children first.

"And what," Ohara asked gently, "if Samantha is unable to give you children?"

Jack looked stunned as if either the idea that they'd speak of children never occurred to him or that it was just reminded that they were talking personally, not from a military perspective. Either way, he was surprised.

"Kids are important to me," he reiterated, "but if they don't happen, it's okay. Well, it's not okay," he rambled, "but I'd understand. Not that I wouldn't want to try to, but it would also be up to, I'd want...I didn't think...It's...It would be okay," he finally wound down. "I wouldn't blame her."

She hadn't really considered how twisted up he'd be inside about kids. And if he really thought about it and answered the question that was really asked...maybe his answer would be different. "You mean, you want more kids?"

"I don't know, Carter," he said her name defensively. "I hadn't really thought about it."

"You were probably a good father," she thought aloud.

"When I was where I was supposed to, yeah," he ground out. "But you've already said you're not...maternal."

"But if you wanted kids…" Jeez, she couldn't believe she was saying what she was saying. They weren't seriously contemplating any of this, why was she letting it go so far?

Jack looked genuinely confused, too, but played along. "I want what makes you happy."

"I don't know what would make me happy. More time to make a decision?"

"Yeah," he said with a nod of finality, "Okay." He looked at Ohara. "What's next?"

She seemed stunned by the rapid fire exchange between the two officers. "Children are rarely seen as a weakness, but I gather you have lost a child."

"Yes," he said, his voice sounding like it was coming out around broken glass. He said it with a clear indication that he didn't intend to speak about it further, and she acquiesced, apparently pleased enough that Sam seemed to have the details.

"Perhaps we should hear Samantha's vulnerability now."

Sam wasn't sure she wanted to share, but after what he'd just shared with her, even inadvertently, made her want to extend some sort of trust to him to show she understood what his confession had cost him. So, against her better judgment, she told him the truth.

"I don't trust myself to make good decisions."

"You make good decisions all the time," he said, surprised.

"I don't mean about work. I mean about men. About you." And there was more truth in that statement than she even wanted to admit to herself. _Temper the truth, Sam, temper the truth_. "I let myself get carried away. I'm too…"

"Giving," he said.

"No," she automatically disagreed. But maybe he was right. She did have a way of losing herself in a relationship for the desires of her partner, always had. Besides, she was usually--

"My guess is, you're usually too busy with your work to really tell someone what you want. So you give whatever is asked of you until you're not even you anymore." He took a long, slow, appraising look at her. "How close am I?"

He'd pissed her off with his spot-on assessment. She hated that she was so transparent to him, of all people. So, she churlishly didn't answer.

"I make bad decisions about men because I'm attracted to the wrong men, every time. There's always some reason I should be running in the other direction."

"And you believe you should be running this time, too, I think, Tuhiha."

"I should be running so fast," she said but her eyes were locked on Jack's.

"Why?" he asked. "Because you're attracted to me?" his voice had dropped back to the husky register from the night before.

"I thought we'd established that last night."

"It's okay, Sam," he reiterated.

"No, it's not!" she was unsettled to hear tears in her voice. "You're just another man in a long line of men I should have known better about."

"I'd like to think I'm in a different class than Hanson," he said sarcastically.

"You are," she said. "You're completely different, but--"

"Sam, we're getting married. It's time to stop pretending that these stupid rituals aren't doing exactly what they're designed to do. They don't usually marry for love here, right?"

"Right," she said uncertainly.

"So doesn't it stand to reason that rituals designed to make two people feel attraction and affection for one another would be a good thing to have if you want to grow the population?"

When he said it, it sounded so simple. "It's all an aberration."

"Hey, wait, I didn't say that," he said and she'd have sworn he was perturbed about her choice of words.

"None of it is real."

"Damn it, Sam, I didn't say that either,"

She idly wondered why he was fighting so hard against the answer, the way they could write this whole thing off like it hadn't happened.

"It's not just forced physical intimacy, it's forced emotional intimacy. We're feeling things we wouldn't feel under ordinary circumstances." She could hear a near hysterical edge in her own voice, she could only imagine what she sounded like to Jack, Ohara and Eduan.

Jack looked like he wanted to say more but instead he looked at Ohara.

Ohara considered Sam carefully, "Perhaps we are done for today."

Jack, uncharacteristically looked at Eduan. Sam looked at Eduan too. He looked genuinely concerned and Sam realized she must sound pretty bad.

“If it's okay with you, I think I'll walk Sam back," he said.

When Ohara demured, and Eduan nodded, Sam didn't even wait for Jack. She, once again, fled the ritual room, leaving a concerned Jack and a confused Eduan and Ohara behind, candlelight dancing off their features. She knew she'd have a lot of explaining to do in the morning, but for the moment, all she wanted was a hot bath and some time to dissect her feelings.

 


	9. Chapter 9

"You know," Jack said as he walked into her lab, "if you keep running off at the end of the rituals, I'm going to get a complex."

She sighed and pulled into herself a little. He was right -- her behavior was totally inappropriate. "I owe you an apology for my behavior, sir."

"No, you don't. But an explanation might be nice," he said, not unkindly.

She turned her thoughts over in her mind trying to figure out how to tell him the truth without revealing any more of herself than she had to. "I'm having a tough time separating reality from make believe."

"Because of what I said last night about the rituals--"

"--Creating artificial attraction and affection."

"I didn't say artificial," he pointed out.

"Well, what else could it be? We don't know each other. And even if we did, regulations prohibit--"

"Wait a minute," he said, holding up a forestalling hand, "we _do_ know each other, at least some. That's what the rituals do, they force us to get to know one another. And regulations may prohibit us from acting but no matter what they say, they can't prohibit feelings. That's just impossible, Sam."

Oh god. Did that mean the crush she was working on wasn't so one-sided? "So what are you saying?"

"That the circumstances might not be natural, but what we're feeling…"

He let the thought trail off and she didn't pick it up either, unsure she wanted to walk down that path. Things were so much easier when they were just pretending.

"This is…" she finally started, "Well, maybe you've noticed that I'm really bad at this."

He chuckled, "If it helps, me too. You've sort of _made_ me be the one who's good at it."

"I'm really bad at relationships," she told him, "even, apparently, fake ones."

"It's not fake," he ground out like he had the night before. "What is it going to take to convince you that what's happening here, even if we don't believe it's going to save the planet, is really happening?"

"We're _not_ getting married."

"According to these people we are. And yeah, their rituals are a pain in the everloving ass, but they're doing what they're supposed to do. Like it or not, we have a relationship, Sam. Even if that relationship means we're just good friends now that we know so much about one another."

"But we're not _just friends_!" She was immediately blindsided by the way he had leaned towards her that night, the way she knew with absolute certainty he was going to kiss her. The way she wanted him to kiss her. To kiss her like she knew she'd never been kissed before.

"No," he said quietly, "we're not. It's...clear there's something between us. Something neither one of us anticipated."

"Or wanted," she said acerbically and he flinched.

"Or wanted," he conceded though it didn't sound like his heart was really in it. "And I know, better than most, that this isn't supposed to be happening. But it is happening."

"We're going to get court-martialed."

"No, we're not."

"We should."

"No," he said sternly, "we shouldn't. It's not like we've got a lot of choice in the matter. In case you've forgotten, Baurton and Eduan have men guarding the gate and we don't have our weapons. Our only option would be an assault from the SGC and isn't playing along a better idea than killing a bunch other otherwise innocent people?"

"I'd agree if we were just playing along."

"Except we're not," he said softly.

"Not anymore."

"I think it'll be easier to deal with knowing that it's not one sided for either of us, don't you?"

"You mean you thought I…"

"I didn't know what to think, Sam. You keep opening up and then running off. There's nothing you can tell me that's going to make me think less of you as a person or as my second in command."

"You can't possibly know that."

"Because I know _you_ , yes I can."

She deflated, sighed out all the stress and worry that had built up. "You mean that." It wasn't a question, it was a revelation.

But he answered her anyway, "Yes. I do."

"So now what?"

"Now, I'd really appreciate it if you'd just stop running from me every time things get tough."

"I think I can do that."

"Good."

After they cleared things up between them, Sam went back to work trying to piece the device back together and Jack went to help Daniel and Teal'c comb through the massive library looking for any information that might help.

A tremor, worse than any other that had come before, rocked the village. Dust floated down from ceilings and shelves shook loose from the walls.

Quickly, once the tremor stopped, Sam tested the air. As she suspected, the levels of UME-001 in the air had spiked -- far past anything she'd seen before.

She decided to go to Scholar's Hall to find out if the guys had come across any useful information. She needed a break from staring at the device that, no matter how hard she tried, just would not simply...turn on. On her way there she found that small outbuildings and other less supported structures, including her shower, had fallen to the ground.

Just as she approached the building, Daniel came bursting out. Teal'c and Jack followed him in more subdued manner. "Sam! Good! You're here!"

"What's up, Daniel?"

"They never knew if the device worked or not!"

"What?"

"The ones who came before -- they never got a chance to test the device."

"How do you know?"

"Because _this_ ," he thrust a book at her, "is a lab journal."

"I thought you couldn't read the language."

"I can't, not completely anyway. But some of it is the same as the Rorilian's current language and some of Baurton's men have learned more of the language of the ones who came before. Between all of us, well…" he shrugged.

"It's enough. Got it." She answered Daniel but smiled at Jack as he and Teal'c finally caught up with their over-excited friend.

"And they were apparently obliterated by the earthquakes before they were able to finish their testing on the device. From what I gather, there were several -- the one we have was purposely hidden away in the event they didn't finish their work in time."

"Well, that's good for us," Jack said.

"It is!" Daniel agreed.

"Well, not really," Sam argued. "That just means we need to finish the tests. But our device is broken. Have you found schematics yet?"

"We have not," Teal'c answered gravely.

"Damn," she said under her breath. "Damn, damn, damn."

"I take it things aren't going well with the device," Jack said.

"No, sir, they aren't. Honestly, without the schematics, I'm not sure how I'm ever going to get it working. It appears to be back together as best as I can get it considering some of the sides were broken into pieces. And it appears that the internal components are in place and in good shape. I just don't know what else to do."

"There've got to be schematics, Sam," Daniel reassured her. "I can't imagine they'd have taken the time to keep a lab journal but never have drawn blueprints for the device. It just wouldn't make sense."

"I hope you're right."

"I am, Sam. I've got to be," Daniel said with a wide-eyed sort of assurance she envied.

"You have lunch?" Jack asked casually.

"You know we did, we ate in the hall--"

"Not you, Einstein," he said and rolled his eyes.

Daniel looked between Jack and Sam and then nodded slowly. "Oh. Right."

"Come, Daniel Jackson, we will continue our search and allow Captain Carter to eat under O'Neill's supervision."

"You know," Jack called as Daniel and Teal'c turned to walk off, "I know you're giving me a hard time right now."

"I have no knowledge of which you speak," Teal'c said, but Sam could have sworn she saw the side of a grin on his face.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

That night, Ohara led Sam to a group of men, all dressed in hide trousers, a quiver of arrows, and nothing else. They all carried overly long bows. And there, right in front, awaiting, apparently, her arrival, stood her commanding officer. His bare, golden chest stood out in the moonlight. Next to the native men he was pale, and paler still where his t-shirt usually covered but to her he looked good. Too good.

Jack gave her a queer sort of half smile that bordered on teasing then turned to Ohara, "So when _am_ I allowed to kiss her? Because if she keeps looking at me like that…"

Ohara smiled, shook her head and wagged a finger at him, "Still no, Tuhile."

Sam flushed what she knew to be a deep scarlet, likely visible even by moonlight. Apparently he was feeling good about their conversation from the morning if he felt that comfortable teasing her. She liked it when he teased her. It made her feel...special; like part of his inner circle. Anything other than sarcasm from Jack O'Neill meant you were in, really.

She didn't really know what to say to him. So instead she asked, "What's going on?"

"We're going hunting. Or, _I'm_ going hunting and you're going to watch."

"I don't understand."

"This," Ohara said, "is the rite during which your future husband proves he can provide for you. Every time there is a full moon, the men of the village gather together to hunt the mazatl from which we derive the hunter's pants, the strings of our bows, and the meat you seem to like so much, Samantha."

"Tonight the moon is not quite yet full, but we will do the best we can considering the time constraints of the marriage ritual."

"So he's going to go...bow hunting? And we'll...watch?"

"Pretty sure I'm going to have to dress it, too," he said, pointing to the knife strapped to his hip.

"Do you even know how to do that?"

"Yeah," he said seemingly surprised she'd even ask. "Of course."

"Where did you learn to bow hunt, then clean and dress a..what is it? Like a deer? While you were growing up in Chicago?"

"Grandfather," he said gruffly. "Minnesota."

Those two words told her enough. From the first rite's conversation, she knew she shouldn't ask more -- not in front of other people. Jack didn't get emotional about much, but his son and his grandfather seemed to bring it out in him. Finally, when Eduan joined them, it was time to go.

They walked very quietly for such a large group. There was no talking, no rustling, just a group of men and two women, stalking silently down the edge of a wooded area. Soon, the man in the lead, an older hunter, stopped and held up his hand. Everyone else stopped, too. He cocked an ear to the side and then a herd of the mazatl sprang forth from the forest and into the field.

The men all readied their bows. Some of the experienced men had already taken down an animal before the younger ones had drawn an arrow. There was a flurry of activity but beside her, Jack was calculating the shot for a young buck that had broken off from the herd. He knocked an arrow, raised his bow. Then, releasing the string with confidence, Jack placed an arrow right behind the animal's left humerus. It went down with a muffled shriek and within moments was dead. His animal died, but didn't suffer unnecessarily, not the way she'd seen some of the other, less experienced hunters put theirs down. He was quick, precise and humane and she liked him for it.

He turned and handed her his bow. "Hold this? While I--" he gestured towards the fallen animal and pulled the knife off his hip.

"Yeah, sure," she said, her voice thick and full.

"He asks you to hold his bow," Ohara said when Jack had moved off to split the belly of the dead deer-like creature.

"Yes…" Sam led.

"Here, it is only a man's wife who ever touches his bow."

"Oh," she said concerned. "Have we done something wrong?"

"No, not at all," Ohara said with a smile. "You two continue to do right without even knowing what you do. It is a true tlālli match."

Rather than deny it -- again -- Sam just ducked her head, but she couldn't fight the smile. It may not be a love match, but it definitely wasn't the disaster she'd thought it might be.

When it was done, some younger men, who weren't yet hunters, strung the dressed mazatl from sturdy dowel rods and carried them, two to an animal, back to the village. Jack, and the other men, swaggered back. Men and their kill. She could tell they were all proud of themselves. There was something oddly primal about seeing him with blood on his chest, a smear of it on his cheek. It made her go warm and a little gooey inside. She didn't need him to provide, not with a grocery store on every-other corner, but it was interesting to know he could. And really, anything that could put that strut in his step was worth it to watch.

Back at the camp, the men stood back and watched as the younger men cleaned the kill. Jack stood close to her, arms crossed over his chest, as if he was full up on testosterone and it felt good to be near his soon-to-be-wife. And maybe, that's exactly what it was.

"That was a pretty impressive show back there with the bow," she said idly, never taking her eyes off the boys carefully stripping hides from bodies.

"So I passed? Though honestly, I'd rather you just asked me to go to the grocery store if you're out of venison."

"Do they carry venison at King Soopers?" She asked him with a grin.

The crowd started to thin and Ohara bid Jack, "Good hunt, O'Neill. Tomorrow we shall continue. For now, might I suggest a walk along the base of the mountains. It's beautiful in the moonlight."

"How about it, Carter? Want to take a walk?"

She looked down at her sandaled feet and thought about the rocky terrain. "Yes, sir. But maybe I could change first?"

He looked down at his bare chest, self conscious for the first time. "Um, yeah. Me too."

It took them about five minutes to change and another fifteen to walk to the where the mountains started, about a mile outside the village. "Ohara was right," Sam observed. "It really is beautiful here at night."

"The sky's amazing," Jack put in.

"Yes," she said, "it is. All the stars--"

"So, what are we talking around, Sam?" he interrupted her inane chatter.

She sighed. "Nothing in particular, sir."

"Sir," he said with resignation, as if she'd given him some kind of answer he wasn't really looking for.

That wasn't her intention so she tried again. "Jack. Nothing in particular, Jack."

"I thought maybe I'd made you...I don't know...this morning."

"No, I think you were right. It's silly to pretend there's nothing happening here. It's just...what happens when we go home?"

"And we have to turn it off."

"Yeah."

He looked at her so strongly she stopped walking and he swung around to look her in the eye. "I don't know yet."

"I don't want off SG-1."

"I don't want you off SG-1, so let's not even worry about that."

"But the General--"

"General Hammond knows exactly what's happening here."

"He knows that we've," she stopped and gestured between them.

"I don't think we've done any," he repeated her gesture.

"No!" she exclaimed. I didn't mean that we, you know. I meant...he knows we've got...that the rituals have…"

"Stop, Sam," he saved her from herself. "The General has no idea that we've gotten...closer. And, unless you feel the need to tell him, he doesn't have to know. Not unless we can't do our jobs."

"It just seems so disingenuous."

"Why don't we cross that bridge when we come to it, huh?" He turned and started walking again.

"This morning, you said I make you be the one that's good at relationships. I don't mean to make this any harder on you than it already is."

He looked at her, head slightly bowed, hands in his pockets. "It's only harder for me because it's so hard on you."

"You've made it a lot easier than it could have been."

"But it's still got you all tied up in knots. I mean, hell, Sam -- the last two nights you've literally run from me."

"I wasn't running from _you_."

"Felt like it."

She shuffled forward, dug the toes of her boots into the rocky ground. "I'm sorry."

"Thanks." They walked along silently for a little while before he spoke up again, "You know, I was never really good at all this courting stuff. I just sort of stumbled into Sara and she took care of the rest. When it was time to date she told me when to pick her up, when it was time to move in together she told me what day to get the moving truck, when it was time to get married she told me to go buy a ring...I...Don't get me wrong, I loved her and I was happy to be with her, but it meant I didn't have to be the one to hold all the strings, you know?"

"Okay," she said uncertainly, not sure where he was going with his little speech.

"It's, well, it's kind of nice to be the strong one, Sam. And it's kind of nice to know that there's something I can do better than someone as smart as you. But...if it's all too much...We can figure out another way off this rock, Sam."

She stopped short. "What? You want to stop?"

"I didn't say that," he said quickly. "I mean," he grasped the back of his neck nervously, "I still think this is the best, most expedient way to do what needs to be done, don't you?"

"Oh. Well, yes." Plus, she hated the way the idea of stopping this getting-to-know you ritual made her feel.

"So, we'll keep going?" he asked her, and she'd have sworn she heard a bit of hopefulness in his voice.

"Yeah."

"Okay then. Want to keep walking?" he asked, pointing away from the village.

"For a little while," she said, and they continued on.

 


	10. Chapter 10

Sam stalked away from yet another conversation with Daniel about his books that included the phrase, "I don't know,  _ yet _ ."

"Sam!" Jack jogged to catch up with her.

"Does he not realize that we have three days? Three days!"

"He can't make the information appear and he's been spending at least 16 hours a day pouring over those books."

"You realize they're going to let us go once we're married right? And you and I both know that it's not actually going to solve anything!" She could hear the shrillness in her own voice. "So, sure, they send us home, but then the planet...these people! Jack!"

"Geez, Sam. I'm not sure I've ever heard you so worked up." He herded her into her lab.

"And it's not like we can turn down the opportunity to go home when they let us. So, if I don't fix this before the marriage ceremony, that's it. We're dooming these people to certain death!"

" _ We're _  not dooming these people to anything. We can only do what they'll let us do."

S he was dismayed to feel tears  prick behind her eyes. Captains didn't cry over spilled missions. "I'm just trying to help!"

"Carter, take a deep breath or two, okay?"

She did. She took three as a matter of fact, but still felt next to tears. "You know I have no idea how this thing works, right?" She indicated the device with a sweeping hand motion. "And that unless Daniel can find some schematics, I'm  never  going to be able to make it work?"

"There's no guarantee you'll get it working even if Daniel  is  able to find the right book. A book we're not even sure exists right now. We know you're good, Carter, but you do understand we're not expecting you to perform miracles, right?"

"It shouldn't have to be a miracle. I should be able to fix this even without some," she nudged the device with a knuckle, "alien hunk of junk."

"I think you're expecting more from yourself than the rest of us are expecting from you."

"This is what I do," she told him and thought back to a conversation with Teal'c when she'd said the very same thing. "I fix things other people can't fix."

"When you can."

"No, sir--"

" _ When. You. Can _ , Captain. The weight of this world is not on your shoulders."

"Yes," she said quietly. "It is."

"Well, it shouldn't be. These people didn't bring this on themselves, but they're not going out of their way to help themselves either."

"We see the same things out of certain religious groups on Earth, sir. People put a lot of faith in their gods."

" Sam, their god sent them you  -- if these people can't see that they need you, there's not much more you can do to help."

"Well, I guess that's good," she said, unimpressed by his story, "because we're almost out of time. I'm not sure I  can  help, not with three days and a paperweight."

"And there's no chance you can figure something out on your own? With our equipment from Earth?"

"I have no idea how long that would take. And the tremors are getting stronger all the time."

"Sounds to me like you're having a little crisis of confidence."

"More like a big crisis, sir."

"You're doing the best you can under the circumstances. When you have to devote two hours of every day to getting all dolled up, and when you're doing all the scientific heavy lifting alone, Sam, I'm not sure there's anyone anywhere who could pull off what you've been trying to."

She flushed with some mixture of pleasure and embarrassment. It was nice to know he thought so much of her, but she expected so much more of herself.

"It still feels like I should be doing more," she said.

"I know."

Several hours later he showed up with lunch.

"Figured you'd rather eat in here today," he said and handed over a plate of the mazatl meat wrapped in the flat cornbread like tortilla thing she liked so much.

"Thanks. I would."

"Feeling a little more in control now?"

She knew she must have  _ looked _  a little less crazed. Even if she hadn't felt it. At all. "I am, sir."

"Why do I get the feeling you're lying to me?"

She ducked her head, blushed, but then looked up at him bravely. "I have no idea." 

He laughed, outright, and it made her chuckle, too, until she did, indeed, feel a little better.

"So, Daniel hasn't turned up anything new," he said, then stole a pinch of her lunch. She pushed the plate towards him a bit on the table top. He'd brought her far too much food, anyway. 

"I figured as much." Soon, they were both eating the lunch, scooping up bits of the meat with the bread, one bite at a time. "I haven't made any progress either." She pushed the plate all the way to his side of the table and pushed her stool back so she could stand and pace. "I wish I could be in there with you guys looking for the book. I'd feel so much more useful. I'm just wasting time here, sitting on my thumbs."

He didn't say anything, she supposed he was just allowing her to vent but she didn't really need to vent anymore. What she really needed to do was apologise. "Thank you, sir, for everything you've said to me today. And I'm sorry you had to stop what you were doing to coddle a subordinate officer."

"I wasn't coddling an officer," he said, and he seemed a little hurt. "I wasn't trying to be your boss, Sam, I was trying to be your friend."

He was? "Oh."

He sighed heavily, "You're one tough nut to crack, you know that, Carter?"

She couldn't help but smile a little. It wasn't the first time in her life she'd heard such a sentiment expressed. "Yes, sir."

"You want me to tell Baurton's men to take a hike, so you can come work with us?"

She sighed. "Thanks, but no, sir. You've got a half a dozen of them. They can work faster than I can."

"I should be getting back, he said. You going to be okay?"

"Yes," she said. "Both as an officer and as a person, I'll be fine."

"Good, because Daniel's not going to be happy if he hears you're over here melting down. Only one scientist gets to go off the rails at a time and he's running on caffeine and hope right now. Teal'c has to scrape him off the ceiling every half hour or so."

"Oh," she said, suddenly feeling bad about her own complaints. "I'm sorry to hear that."

"It's okay. He was fine this morning when you were doing your thing, so like I said, one at a time and we've got this thing covered."

"Yes, sir."  she said, with a small smile.  It felt like she smiled a lot when he was around.

Once he left she got to wondering what the evening's ritual would bring. She knew it had something to do with service, Daniel had said that much. But after the previous night's hunting, she had no idea what to expect. Was she going to have to cook for him? Because if so, they were both going to be in trouble -- and Ohara would be appalled to find that a wife-to-be was useless in the kitchen. No, give her a beaker and bunson burner anyday. Pots and pans really weren't her thing.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

She walked in the ritual room that night to find Jack dressed in robes similar to those Eduan wore only much less ornate and not quite as heavy. He looked downright biblical sitting in a low wooden chair, swathed in cream colored robes, his heavily tanned skin looking even more tawny in the candlelight. On the floor in front of him was a small, thin pillow, and a basin of water and she knew, instantly, that this ritual had nothing to do with  cooking .

"Welcome, Samantha," Ohara said and stepped out of  a closet Sam had never noticed in the room before. She was holding several little pots which she brought over and sat on the floor next to the basin. "As usual, Eduan and I will be observing from the corner, but you're afforded more privacy by the lower light. This is a very personal ritual that should be between the two of you.

"Tonight Samantha will show how she well will serve you when she is your wife. She will bathe your face, your hands and your feet."

"Uh---" he seemed at a loss for words and looked up at Sam where she was still standing in front of him. "Is this okay with you?"

Wordlessly, besides, what choice did she have, she sank to her knees before him, using the pillow for a cushion. "Yes," she said. Her voice caught in her throat and she cleared it delicately. "Yes, it's fine."

"These," Ohara said indicating the pots, "are cleansing oils. You can choose whichever you like." Then she retreated into the shadows to join Eduan in the overstuffed chairs.

"Is this okay?" Sam asked him, her voice sounding a little funny to her own ears.

"Yeah," he said, but his voice sounded a little funny, too.

Sam opened one of the pots, it smelled strongly of bergamot. She screwed up her face and quickly capped it. When she looked up at Jack he didn't look too pleased with the scent either. The next was a mint that didn't particularly please her, but the last smelled of sandalwood so she chose that one. When she looked up at him, he seemed pleased enough.

Next to the basin was a stack of soft cloths. She picked one up, wet it in the warm water and then leaned into his personal space, between his splayed legs. He was rested back in the seat so she had to lean forwards quite a ways to wet his skin with the cloth, but she stroked it softly over his forehead, his cheekbones, his jaw. She dropped the cloth back into the basin and then dipped some of the thick oil out of the pot with her fingertips.

It felt slick and smooth and the heat of her hands released the heady scent into the air. She rubbed it between her palms until it was warm and then she began, after a moment's hesitation, by running her fingers along the flat of his forehead, above his eyebrows. She massaged his temples with slow rolls of her fingertips and his eyes dropped closed. She rubbed her hands together again to redistribute the oil and then ran her fingers down the bridge of his nose, then out across his cheeks. The papery skin under his eyes felt so smooth. 

When she was satisfied she had the finer features of his face covered in the oil, she dropped her hands down to cup his jaw in her palms. She slicked the oil over his skin, felt the way his whiskers scratched at her palms, used her fingertips to spread the oil in the space over his lips.

She took her hands off him and his eyes opened lazily. His pupils were dilated and she fought the urge to look anywhere but at his face, to find out if it was the candlelight or something else that left him looking that way. Then, she leaned over and retrieved the cloth from the water. She wrung it out, and then followed her same path wiping the oil off his face, one slow stroke at a time. She was so close to him she watched as he licked his lips slowly then looked up to see his eyes locked on hers.

"I'm going to do your hands now," she said quietly.

"Yeah," he said gruffly. "Okay."

She dropped the cloth back in the bowl and then wrung it out. Like she had his face, she slowly moistened first his right hand from wrist to fingertips, the she fished another dollop of the oil out of the pot. She started by rubbing circles on the back of his hand, watching the skin slip and shift over the veins and tendons. She rubbed her fingers between his knuckles, then over the backs of his fingers. She turned his hand over in hers and treated his palm to the same slow, sensuous movements.

Soon she wasn't washing as much as massaging. She took his hand in both of hers and squeezed lightly; he grunted softly and then sighed so she took it as a good sign and continued. She squeezed and released several times, rubbing her slippery skin over his. She threaded her fingers through his time and again, varying her pressure, rubbed her thumbs from the base of his palm all the way up to the tip of his middle finger, repeated the motions for each of his fingers. Then, she worked the fleshy part of his thumb until a soft groan tore from his throat.

She catalogued each callus, rubbed them tenderly. Then, when she was all done, she wiped the oil from his hand and started all over on his left. When she was done she looked up at his face, surprised to see his head tilted back and his eyes closed. She'd thought she'd felt his eyes on her the whole time. But that was okay. It appeared he was enjoying himself. In truth, she was too. Touching him like that affected her more than she thought it would. She felt close to him, as if she really was performing a much needed service.

"Your feet now," she said quietly, breaking him out of his quiet reflection. Once again, she sat back on her heels. She pulled his right foot into her lap, unsure if she was supposed to be doing it that way, but he went without hesitation so she assumed it was all right.

With a clean cloth, she wet his skin. His feet were scarred and the tendons lifted his skin to make the scars so much more prominent. Without oil, she traced one long scar and he looked down at her. She started to ask and he just shook his head. She'd ask him later, she decided, when there wasn't an audience. With more oil, she cleaned his feet, first the tops, then the bottoms, then began another massage at his heels. First, with one foot, then the other, she completed her work. When she was done, this time he really was looking down at her.

He looked soft and lazy and a little lit in his eyes. Ohara approached them. "Tuhiha, help him on with his sandals," she said softly, apparently not wanting to break the quiet, peaceful, and more than a little sensual mood that had fallen over the room.

To the right of the chair she found his shoes and fit first one foot then the other in between the straps. He stood then, without waiting for her to move. It stepped him into her personal space and she found her face just inches from his waist. It took everything she had not to look down, to find out whether he was similarly affected by what had transpired in the candlelight. He threaded his fingers through the back of her hair where it wasn't slicked back with the sand, then dropped his hand to take hers. She let him help her up, she stood just inches from him.

Ohara spoke one more time. "Eduan and I will be leaving. Tuhile," she waited until Jack looked at her, "Now."

A smile picked up the corner of his mouth. Lost in the trance of what she'd done, Sam didn't quite catch on to what was being said. And then, when Eduan and Ohara breezed out of the room, he cupped her face in his hands and, without saying another word, tilted his head and slanted his lips across hers.

Stunned, at first, she didn't move. Then, in degrees, she felt the way he worked his lips over her mouth, soft and strong. She sighed against him and he flicked the tip of his tongue against the inside of her top lip and she was  powerless  but to return his kiss.

Slowly, languorously, she tangled her tongue with his. In the back of her mind warning lights were flashing but she didn't care to heed them. Instead, she just tilted her head further and allowed him to deepen the kiss. He hauled her up against him, she could feel the beating of his heart against her breast.

It went on and on until she began to feel faint. She'd forgotten to breathe. He pulled back from her until he could look into her eyes. "I've been wanting to do that for days," he said, then dropped his lips back to hers.

She felt discombobulated and swayed back into him, not a thing she wanted to say, instead she kissed him harder, letting all of the things she'd meant to tell him since all this started flow out through her mouth and into his. She shared the things she was most afraid of and he took those things in and in until there was nothing left to say.

Later, several long kisses and much later, he walked her back to the house she was staying in. "Tomorrow…" He started but he didn't seem know what else to say.

"We'll deal with tomorrow when it gets here," she said with finality, finally feeling the strength she'd taken from his mouth trickle down into the scared parts of her. "Tomorrow will be fine."   



	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Many thanks to my beta, Fems, for putting up with a lot when it came to this chapter. I appreciate it more than she'll ever really know.

**_Author's Note: Many thanks to my beta, Fems, for putting up with a lot when it came to this chapter. I appreciate it more than she'll ever really know._ **

* * *

"Sam! Sam!" Daniel ran into her lab. "I found it!" He slapped a smallish book onto her table.

"What? Really?" She immediately flipped it open. "Oh my god," she said when she saw carefully detailed schematics drawn out on each page.

Jack and Teal'c entered at a much more sedate pace. "Good news, Carter. Oh, I guess you've heard." Jack grinned at her.

"This is it!" she exclaimed. "It's really a book on the device."

"Yep," Daniel said, proud as if he'd written it himself.

"So what are we missing?"

"I don't know," he said, his favorite phrase. "As soon as I realized what it was, I brought it over."

"Barely even took the time to tell us," Jack confirms with a nod.

"Can you read it?"

"Well enough," Daniel confirmed.

"Okay, well let's see what it says."

Together they flipped through from the beginning to the end, once just to get an idea of what they were looking at and then again, slower, to see if any missing components would jump out at them. Eventually they found that the device, was in fact, complete and, if it were intact, would likely only require some tweaking to the power source to make it work. Sam would have to dust off her chemistry a little to make power from sand the way the ones who came before did, but she figured, with the book, anything was possible.

For a couple of hours, she and Daniel poked and prodded at the device, just to make sure its massive crash off her lab table didn't do any overtly noticeable, lasting harm. Eventually, Jack and Teal'c went to round up some lunch. By the time the men returned, Sam and Daniel were arguing about what to do next.

"You should make the power source," he argued.

"I need to test the device's components first," she countered. "Besides, I might be able to bypass their power process using some of our equipment."

"And what if you can't and you've wasted too much time?"

"Okay, kids," Jack said in an effort to keep the peace, "why don't you both take ten and eat." He and Teal'c slid plates of food onto the table between Sam and Daniel who were on either side.

"I just want it to work," Daniel said.

"If anyone should want this to work, it's the person who's going to have to go through another marriage rite tonight!"

"Hey," Jack said, a little hurt, "I don't think it's going to be that bad."

Sam turned to him, chagrined, "Of course not. It's just - there's so much to do here and I've only got five hours until -"

"I know how it works, Captain."

So they took some time to eat and before too long, Sam and Daniel were back to work, noses pressed to the device.

"I'm going to hook it up to the computer and take a few readings," Sam decided. Daniel started to object but she forestalled him with a hand. "While I do that," she grabbed a piece of paper and started scribbling down a list, "why don't you guys go find these materials so I can start synthesizing their fuel when I'm done?"

Appeased, Daniel took the list and left the room with Jack and Teal'c as his helpers.

Alone, finally, Sam hooked the device up to her computer and took latent energy readings. The device seemed to throw off a little power but she wasn't sure if it was the lack of fuel in the power source or the damage that left it appearing so weak.

She considered adding the fuel. The one thing the book didn't give her a clear picture of was exactly what the device was supposed to do once it was working. It appeared to be a scrubber of some kind, but it was very small. And, how did it work? Was it something that had to remain on all the time? She thought she'd know better once she'd created the fuel and could see how long the fuel would feed the device. She wondered if the device had originally been fueled - quite possibly considering the presence of the power source to begin with - or if it had been left dormant and hidden in case it was one day needed.

Half an hour later, the guys reappeared with all the components of the fuel recipe and she set to work. While she worked, Jack took more air samples and she walked him through taking the readings with the mass-spectrometer so they'd have some sort of baseline. It only took her an hour to synthesize the fuel and another fifteen minutes to properly load it into the device. There didn't seem to be an on switch and, when fuelled, it didn't really seem to do much except put off a weak, bluish light.

"Do you think it's working?" Daniel asked.

"I guess so," Sam said, completely uncomfortable with the lack of activity. "I'll have to take some more readings and compare them to the ones we took before. But I think we should take it outside, in any event, don't you?"

"The book doesn't say where it should be."

"I believe it does, Daniel Jackson." Teal'c was sitting at the lab table looking through the book. He was on a page near the end. "There is a pedestal beneath the device in this picture and I believe these marks represent the mountains."

Jack looked over his shoulder. "Huh, buddy. I think you might be right."

Sam looked at the drawing and couldn't help but agree. "Okay, so we'll take it outside. We can put it on one of the tables in the courtyard," she offered.

"Okay, let's go," Jack ordered, and the four of them made their way to the courtyard.

Two hours later, and just two hours before Sam would have to stop her work and get ready for the final marriage rite, the new air samples showed no change.

"Damn it," Sam swore. "I don't know if the device isn't working or if it's just slow-acting. I need more time."

"You've got an hour," Jack pointed out.

"It's not enough!"

"You can keep checking, Carter," he tried to appease her.

"What good will that do if the device isn't working, sir? If it's not working, I need to know now! Did they have multiple devices because it would take that many to do the work? How is this little thing supposed to help at all? And what if it's not the device but the power source? What if I screwed up the fuel? It doesn't exactly look like it's pumping out a lot of power." She indicated the low blue light the device was still emitting.

"Sam, you got the thing working, you're already doing better than we thought you could," he tried again.

"We  _think_  it's working."

"And that's all we can do," he said with the finality of an order given.

"With all due respect, sir, my time is better spent here, with the device, running trials than it is with some stupid marriage rite."

"We're locked into that marriage rite," the colonel said stonily.

"They can't force me to do anything," she said.

"I don't know what they'd pull if you tried to back out now. It might be a hell of a lot more unpleasant than the rite itself."

"I don't think the last rite is meant to be unpleasant," Daniel put in. "It is called the pleasure rite."

"Speak for yourself about what  _unpleasant_  might mean," Sam said churlishly.

"Geez."

Sam seemed to realize what she'd implied at too late a moment. "Sorry, sir."

"No," he waved. "Fine. Fine. Whatever." But the hurt look on his face was something she wished she hadn't seen.

"I didn't mean-"

"It's fine, Captain." Oh, he sounded pretty put out.

"I'm going to go see about... something else."

"This is not going well," Sam said to no one in particular as Jack stalked off.

"I think Jack is upset," Daniel said, rather unhelpfully in her opinion.

"What possibly could have given you that idea?"

"Okay," he said placatingly, "why don't we keep testing, see if this is just something that takes time? We've got about an hour, it might take that long before we notice any changes."

"And if we do notice any changes, it might be the natural order of the planet and the changing levels of the metal in the air."

"I guess we'll know if the tremors lessen or weaken."

"That's not as scientific as I'd like to be about it."

"I think Jack was right, it's the best we can do right now."

She could tell he was trying to make things easier for her, but she felt so out of control there wasn't anything he could say to make her feel better. There she was, faced with a potential solution to the problems the planet was facing and she was up against a clock to go do who knows what with her commanding officer. If the previous night's rite was any indication, it was going to be a pretty personal ritual. And the idea that it was the pleasure ritual wasn't giving her any information to the contrary.

She thought perhaps it was her nerves making her fight so hard for time with the device. If she could just keep doing her work she wouldn't have to find out exactly what these people thought  _pleasure_ meant. To her it sounded like she was about to tell the regs to go take a flying leap. Not that she hadn't the night before when she'd been thoroughly and very pleasantly kissed by her commanding officer.

After all the build up they'd had, after all the things he'd made her feel, she didn't regret it. Not at all. He said he'd been waiting days to kiss her, but she'd been waiting days to be kissed, too. He'd made her rethink everything she'd ever thought about herself and men and the ones she'd chosen. He was, by far, the best man she'd ever tangled up with. And he was also the one man she wasn't allowed to tangle with.

So she was having second thought. Truly, third ones, too. What if the ritual was exactly like it sounded? How far was she supposed to go? How far was she willing to go? And how would she come back from any of it?

An alien device that was more mystery and puzzle than anything else sounded a lot more manageable than completing the marriage rites with Jack. Much, much more manageable, indeed.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

She looked for him before it was time to go get dressed. She found him, stretched out on his bunk and alone in the barracks. "Jack?" she said quietly letting the screen door slam behind her.

"Yeah, Carter?"

"I'm sorry about earlier."

"Did you get any encouraging readings?"

"No. I'm going to check again after the rite tonight. Before, if I can get away from the attendants with enough time. I don't know if there's a problem or if it's just... slow. It's... frustrating."

He heaved a sigh and sat up, swung his legs around so his feet were on the floor and his back was to her. "I know."

"I really am sorry about earlier."

"I don't want to force you into anything, but we signed up for this whole thing." He sounded resigned about the whole conversation.

"I know."

He turned, looked over his shoulder at her. "And I  _am_  afraid of what Eduan might pull if we back out now. We don't have our weapons, we don't have backup, and when I checked in with Hammond this morning he gave us twenty-four more hours so we're on our own here."

"Okay." She looked down at her feet. "I just feel like I'm so close to actually being able to help."

"And you're giving up your time to do whatever the hell we're going to have to do."

"Yeah. And it's-"

"Frustrating, yeah, I know."

"I taught Daniel how to take the samples. He said he'd take them at intervals while we're in the rituals."

"That'll be helpful."

"Jack-" she started.

"Go on ahead and get ready, Sam."

She took his dismissal as a tacit acceptance of her apology. It really wasn't about him or the rituals, it was about her ability to help and how she felt like she'd been thwarted at every turn. First by Eduan, then by the device, also by the simple restraints of time.

In the end she figured compliance was the best way to apologize in a way he'd understand so she went off to get prepared for the pleasure ritual.

As usual, she was dressed in an off-white shift and her hair was slicked back and sanded with the sparkly granules. When she entered the ritual room she was alone. On the floor was a soft, inviting looking pallet of blankets. The pots of oil were back but were sat upon small warmers over candles.

"Good, you're here, Tuhiha."

Sam turned towards the door. Ohara walked in with Jack and Eduan. Over her arm, Ohara carried many yards of soft, silky looking fabric. Jack was still in uniform. "I apologize, but you're going to need to change," Ohara said. "The attendants are all young women, as you may have noticed. This part of the ritual is known only to the people of the village who are married. Come over here to the corner, I will help you. O'Neill, you will need to change as well, Eduan will direct you."

Sam and Jack retreated to separate corners of the room. Ohara held up the length of fabric, one long sheet, and directed Sam, "remove your shift," and then, once Sam had, "and those undergarments as well." Uncomfortably, but hidden from the view of the men by the fabric, Sam slipped off her underwear. Ohara then expertly wrapped Sam up in the sheet of fabric as if it were a type of sarong.

By the time the women turned around, Jack was wearing his own sheet of fabric, slung over his hips and tucked to stay secure.

The foursome met in the center of the room. Ohara spoke. "This is the pleasure ritual. This is how you learn what brings your intended pleasure. Eduan and I will observe for a time, to make sure you are comfortable as can be or are directed if it takes you a while to feel comfort while touching or being touched by one another. When it is time, we will leave."

"Time for what?" Jack asked.

"It is different for every couple, O'Neill, so that I cannot say." She indicated the oils on the warmers. "Most begin with sensual rubbing, but you are free to start however you are most comfortable."

"Right," he said, but he didn't sound comfortable at all. Which was fine, Sam wasn't either. She was standing in front of her commanding officer, naked but for a sheet of silk wrapped around her. She could only guess he was similarly naked.

She took a deep breath, "It's okay. We can do this."

"You sure?" he asked quietly.

"Yes." As sure as she could be.

Ohara and Eduan moved to their chairs. He moved to the pallet and sat, leaving plenty of room next to him for her. She knelt next to him. "How do you want to do this?" he asked her.

She uncapped the pot of oil next and found it to be the sandalwood she'd used on him the night before, but sweeter somehow, something like jasmine had been added. She assumed because it was just as likely to be used on her as on him. She set the lid down on the floor then watched the shadows from the candles play off his chest for a moment. She thought about it. Where was the easiest possible place they could start? "Well, you could let me rub your back." It would require no removal of clothing, such as it was, and still they'd be touching as the ritual seemed to prescribe.

"I feel like I keep coming out on the better end of this deal," he said.

She appreciated his attempt to make a joke. "You better lay down before I lose my nerve," she said with a small smile.

"You're sure?"

"You should stop asking me that. I'm not sure about anything, but we're here, right?"

Instead of answering, he laid down and presented her with his back, his head cushioned on his arms. She admired the flex of his back, biceps and triceps, felt the first stirrings of desire just because he was a sight to behold. Then, before she lost what was left of her nerve, she dipped her fingers in the oil.

She started at his shoulder blades but soon she was sweeping her hands up and down the planes of his back and he was making low, satisfied sounds in the back of his throat that went straight to her belly to flutter around with the other stirrings. His muscles were tight when she began, but the longer she worked, the loser and smoother he became. It wasn't too much longer and she'd move from massaging to caressing, her hands refusing to obey her brain to keep things as professional as possible under the circumstances.

When she passed her fingers over his ribs he jumped a little at her touch and chuckled. "Watch it, Carter," he said playfully. He rolled over onto his side and she couldn't help but watch the muscles in his abs contract, and her mouth went dry. "You know, if you ever wanted to quit your day job..."

"Sorry, I think I'll stick with physics."

"Damn," he said with a theatrical snap of his fingers. "So, how about it? Want to let me return the favor?"

Yes. Yes, she did. But...Uh-oh. That meant partially disrobing. She tried to justify it in her mind. It wasn't like he'd see anything other than her back. Little more than he'd see if she were in a bathing suit. Except she'd never actually be wearing a bathing suit in front of her commanding officer, especially not well on her way to aroused. Her fiance, however, yeah, she'd likely wear a bathing suit in front of that man. So, what harm was there?

"Lie down first," he said quietly.

She did, but he stayed lying on his side next to her. Like he had, she cushioned her head on her arms. He began by trailing the backs of his fingers from her elbow to her shoulder and making her shudder. It tickled a little, when he let his fingers wander farther to where the tucked end of her sarong was held in place. Carefully, he tugged and the fabric came free, she felt the tight binding around her breasts loosen and felt a pleasant sort of debauchery. He unwound the top of the sarong and she pushed up a little so he could pull the fabric down to rest at the swell of her ass. He seemed to take his time folding it and smoothing it into place. The feeling of his hands skating along the silk covered skin made her insides tingle with anticipation.

Without the oil he ran his warm hands from the small of her back all the way up to her shoulders along her spine. The calluses on his fingers scratched her skin pleasantly and she had to suppress a moan. It was heady having his hands on her after spending so much time touching him. It had been all about him to that point and she hadn't minded. Had actually enjoyed the freedom to touch him as she wanted without repercussion or recourse.

But with his hands on her she felt...heavy, like she was falling through the floor. Or light, like she was floating up through the ceiling. She was outside herself and yet fully grounded right down through her center. She reacted instantly to his touch. She felt rich and wanting and he'd hardly touched her. She shifted a little, pressed her legs together. "Sorry," she said, hoping he had no idea what she was talking about.

"It's okay," he replied huskily. He was aware, fully aware. And he didn't seem to mind. Was he the kind of man used to turning women on with just the touch of his hands? Or had he known it was a byproduct of the atmosphere they were creating? That she'd been halfway to turned on just by looking at his body and touching him in a way that made him feel good? Was he turned on, too? She suddenly wished she'd been bold enough to look.

Then, he leaned over her to get to the pot of oil and his hips pressed into her thigh and she knew - the cloth he was wearing hid nothing. And yes, he was turned on, too. Well. Okay then. And she was suddenly sure he let her feel it on purpose. It did put her at ease knowing she wasn't the only one. It was just all happening so fast.

His hands landed back on her skin. The slick warmth of the silk and oil, she could picture his sun burnished skin on her pale, apricot back, with the smell of sandalwood and jasmine in the air, it made for a perfect storm that, when he placed his hands on her, there was really only one way it could end. The oil was slick and slippery between them and put her in mind of other things as he slid his hands up and down her back. If he thought she was good, well, he was better. His hands were large, his fingers long and he found every place where she might have carried even the slightest bit of tension. He seemed fascinated by the dimples in her lower back next to her spine and he spent long moments swirling his thumbs in and around them, creating a current of need within her that pooled from his fingers down into the ever-more wet part of her.

He worked her skin over until she was hot with wanting whatever came next. Her breathing was labored and she forgot about not making any noise. He drew from her a litany of sweet hums and guttural grunts until, finally, he leaned over and pressed his lips to her neck, flicking his tongue against her oily skin and causing goosebumps to rise in his wake. He laid down next to her again, closer, propped himself up on an elbow and ran a sure hand from her back down over her ribs to her waist. He slipped a finger in between her hip and the fabric she was swathed in and tugged a little. It wasn't going anywhere, but the request was clear.

He leaned in, nuzzling the hair behind her ear with his nose. His warm breath wafting over her highly sensitized skin made her shiver with pleasure. She wanted him, wanted him now, could tell he wanted her but she wasn't going to fuck him with an audience present. She looked up and found them blissfully gone. He must have seen them leave. Never mind. Now was good. She leaned towards him and lifted her mouth and he took the hint. He pressed first a sweet kiss to the corner of her mouth and then issued a hotter, open mouthed entreaty she couldn't help but return. She lifted her hips for him, ready to relinquish her silk but he was still working her with his mouth. He released her lips, nuzzled at her jaw, trailed his tongue along the tendons in the side of her neck. She was aching for him, mewling her requests in a wanton way.

With a quick movement he pulled the fabric out from around and under her, leaving her naked beside him. He hauled her up to him so they were chest to chest and kissed her. He plunged his tongue into her mouth, but god, there had to be more of him tight against her. Just as she wished for more, he slid his hand between them and tested her wetness, she knew she'd surpassed damp and headed straight to the frothy sort of need-you-now readiness that couldn't be mistaken. She hooked a thigh over his hip and felt his silk and erection pressed up against her center. God, he was hot and so deliciously hard. He skated a hand over her hip, palmed a cheek of her ass with one hand and pulled her tighter against him. Wet wasn't even a term that could be used to describe her anymore. She was slick and slippery like the oil and she knew he had to be able to feel her wetness through the last layer of silk that separated them.

"Jesus, Sam," he said as he ground into her.

She said something that might have been his name but was likely a moan. She snaked a hand down between them to wrap her fingers around him. She didn't care if she was jumping the gun, she had to feel him. She encountered slick silk and groaned into his mouth. He disengaged long enough to shed the last of the fabric between them. He pulled her hand back to his erection when he was bare and he still felt like silk. The feel of him in her hands aroused her further and she started caressing him, but he had other ideas.

He pulled her thigh back over his hip and then there wasn't any more room for her hand because he was sliding his heavy cock between her legs, pushing it through her wetness to glide along her labia and they both groaned at the sensation. He slid over her clit when he pulled back and she gasped, pulling his tongue back into her mouth. He had a counter rhythm going, cock, tongue, cock, tongue, cock and it was lightening. Until it wasn't enough.

Needing more of him, she pushed him over onto his back. She spared a quick thought for protection. She was on birth control and knew they'd all been tested for everything under the sun, STDs included. If you went through the gate, you were clean. Period. She discarded the thought of anything between his skin and her, so she straddled him. His erection was thick and lay heavily against his body so she took a few moments to roll her hips over him, recreating the sensations he'd been giving her only moments before.

With little communication, she lifted up and he reached between them to guide himself into her. From on top she controlled her downward slide, adjusting to his size and the feeling of having someone inside her again. It was a tight fit and she fought little frissons of pain while her body learned to accommodate him. Then, he was fully seated inside her.

He groaned and the needed sound of his voice forced her eyes closed and a moan to tear from her throat. She planted one hand in the center of his chest and rolled her hips experimentally. She teased him with a few more slow rolls until he found her clit with the pad of his thumb, she felt it all the way through her body to the top of her head, then down the back of her neck, to the points of her nipples then back down again, where the pleasure spiraled around and fed her pleasure back to him with a faster, more insistent roll of her hips. She knew the time for teasing was over. She rose up on him then slid back down, her movements slow and sensual and perfect - for her. Soon his hips were driving up to meet her and she increased her pace.

His eyes were dark and flicked between her face, her breasts, and where he disappeared inside her. Her breasts felt heavy and neglected and she reached up to cup their weight in her hands and squeezed. "You're gorgeous, you know that?" he ground out, but she didn't know what to say so she just rewarded him with a clench of her inner muscles and he groaned for her so she did it again. After that he couldn't keep his free hand off her, her breasts, he rolled her nipples varying the pressure until she moaned, her lips - she wrapped her tongue around his thumb and sucked him into her mouth.

"Christ, Sam," he groaned then he flipped them over so he could drive into her faster.

"Harder," she grunted when she found she'd reached the  _not enough_ level again. He obliged and slammed his hips into hers, the shuddering impact against her clit was the perfect stimulation. She felt her orgasm begin to collect at the base of her spine and coil up through her belly.

"I'm going to come," she warned him in a breathy voice she didn't recognize.

"Good," he ground out pushing into her hard. She reached between them to rub circles around her clit. He looked down between them, she knew it was hard to see in the low light but he groaned anyway.

Then, she was coming, clenching around him, head thrown back, his name slipping between her lips between quiet, breathy moans. A few thrusts later he came too, his head buried in her neck and the only heavy sound, "Sam."

After a few moments he moved off of her and collapsed. She missed his heavy weight but she didn't move closer. They weren't whatever they were supposed to be if they were going to cuddle. What had happened between them was a culmination of marriage rites that had simply pushed them to the breaking point.

And finally, they talked about it all, bathed in candlelight, their naked, sweaty skin cooling in the air.


	12. Chapter 12

"It's working!" she exclaimed. She thanked goodness they were all gathered in the courtyard at breakfast time already because she didn't want to waste time finding anyone. "Look!" she pointed at her computer screen. "The last tremor decreased in magnitude and the levels of metal in the air didn't spike beforehand. The scrubber is working!"

"Is that what we're calling it now?" Jack asked. She really looked at him. He looked relaxed for the first time in over a week. No nervous fidgeting, no slight scowl, and he settled into his hips in a nonchalant sort of way she hadn't seen since just before all the marriage stuff started.

"Well, since that seems to be what it's doing, yeah."

"So now what?" Jack asked

"Now we just...let it keep working," she answered with a shrug.

"You know, Carter, that's rather anticlimactic."

She grinned, "It really is, isn't it?"

As the day wore on the levels of UME-001 continued to fall and the tremors lost more magnitude. Eduan, however, could not be persuaded that the device was responsible at all.

"This is a sign from our god!" he exclaimed when presented with the evidence. "Now that the rituals are complete the true benevolence is being shown."

"Maybe I should be talking to Baurton," Sam said to Jack. "Someone needs to understand what's happening so that these people don't lose their civilization."

Later, Jack led Baurton over and Sam showed him the device, explained how it worked and offered to teach his scholars how to make more of the fuel should they need it.

"This has not been an easy task for you," Baurton acknowledged, "made more difficult by the more...religious half of our village."

"It wasn't easy, no," she conceded. "But I'm happy we've found a solution for you."

"Tonight, however, you will allow Eduan to complete his marriage rituals?" he asked amusedly.

"We think it's for the best."

"Should you wish to go home, perhaps you are right," he said and cracked the first smile Sam had ever seen from him.

"Thank you for the men you allowed to help Daniel find the book. Without it, we wouldn't have been able to-"

"Your Daniel has already lavished me with thanks, Captain Carter. No more are necessary. You will remember I had a much more vested interest in this than you and your people did."

"I suppose you're right," she agreed. "But whatever you want to know, ask me before the wedding. We won't be back," she said, almost apologetically, though she didn't feel apologetic at all.

"I would have guessed as much," he said, his smile growing.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"I woke up this morning feeling good," Jack said quietly, intimately near her ear.

She smiled, "Me too. Very...pleasant," she teased.

"Pleasant?! Is that all?" he asked, mock affronted.

"Satisfied," she amended and checked the urge to kiss him, though she wasn't sure why. He could already be considered her lover and in a matter of hours would be her husband.

She was glad they took the time to talk about everything the previous night because things might have been awkward if they hadn't. As it was, things were very... easy between them.

They'd decided not to beat themselves up about the sex. Everything over the course of the past couple of weeks had been leading them directly there. They'd shared an emotional connection that, though accelerated, couldn't be described as forced and that connection had, naturally, bled over into a physical desire that would have driven them crazy with what-if if they hadn't succumbed.

Besides, the sex was good, she didn't want to beat herself up about it. They still hadn't fully talked about what would happen when they got home, though they'd decided that the sex could stay between them and them alone. No Daniel, no Teal'c and  _certainly_  no General Hammond. Not that Daniel was taking the evasion very easily - he was desperate to hear about the final rite. Eventually they just gave up and told him about the massage and left out the rest.

The wedding was to take place between first and second sundowns. Apparently it was similar to an Earth wedding in many ways. She would once again be required to wear the ceremonial shift and Jack, as he had during the fifth rite, would be required to wear robes.

As the time for the ceremony grew near, the village people began to turn up in the courtyard. One by one they all arrived until more than a hundred people stood around. Sam was whisked away and properly attired and when she was returned Jack stood there waiting, once more in his biblical dress. "I'm not sure I'll ever get used to seeing you that way," she said to him.

"I'm not sure I'll ever forget you like that," he returned. She felt herself blush.

"It all stays here, even the sand," she said, nostalgia thick in her voice.

"As they say, all good things come to an end."

"How cliché of you, sir." She smiled at him.

"One for the road," he said with a wink.

Soon, Eduan approached, his robes even richer looking than usual. "We will begin," he said and a hush fell over the congregated villagers.

"Samantha and Jack," he said - and she was momentarily taken aback by hearing her name on his lips, she was certain he thought her name was  _girl,_ "you have been brought together by Nenetl to make a tlālli union. Do either of you object?"

"You mean we could have been objecting this whole time?" Jack said out of the side of his mouth, only for her to hear. She elbowed him in the ribs.

"No," she said clearly while Jack also agreed, "No."

"You have been to the matrimally and also undergone the marriage rites of our people: matizoah, ceccan, eztli, itacatl, cocoti, and celmeltia. For this our gods finds you worthy of marriage. You have proven yourselves capable of understanding one another, being able to put food on your table, you have proven the ability to provide service where it is necessary and know how to bring one another pleasure. Do you agree?"

Sam blushed, Jack smiled. The said in unison: "Yes."

"Then by all our rites and customs and the benevolence of our god, I declare you tlālli.

The village erupted into hollers and applause.

"That's it?" Jack asked quietly. "No  _and you may kiss the bride_?"

"I guess not," she said. "No rings either."

"Well, Carter, I guess this is it."

"We're married."

"For now," he said and he almost sounded sad.

She understood the sentiment - and agreed. "For now."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Having never been married before, she wasn't sure what it would feel like, but in the end the actuality wasn't anything like she guessed. She spent most of her wedding night packing up all the equipment the SGC had sent through and loading things onto two FRED units.

"Does it bother you that Eduan will never believe that the tremors were stopped by the scrubber and not by you marrying Jack?" Daniel asked her as he helped her collate notes into folders.

"We're still not sure the device will stop the tremors completely. More devices really may be necessary to do that."

"But still?"

Sam sighed, "No, not really. Not anymore. Besides, maybe Jack was right and their god sent them me. Maybe what happened was exactly what was supposed to happen."

"You're sounding pretty zen about the whole thing."

"I've decided not to beat myself up."

"Good. You did good here, Sam," he said with a brotherly grin, and a half hug around her shoulders.

"Thanks. Couldn't have done it without you."

"The mutual admiration society meets tomorrow at the SGC right after the briefing."

"Deal," she said. "I'll buy you a cup of real coffee."

"I don't care what anyone else says, you're my favorite."

"Go on," she said with a smile, "get out of here - I know you have some more notes you want to take before we head out."

As he was leaving Jack walked in. "How's the honeymoon treating you?"

"I'm hot and sweaty," she said indicating her person, "but not in the way I always thought I'd be."

He looked at her dumbfounded, apparently shocked by her bald joke. "Tough nut, Carter. A really tough nut."

She laughed, "Yes, sir."

"So tomorrow we go home."

"Yes."

"You going to be okay with everything?"

"Are you?" she turned it around him.

"Mostly, yeah."

"Yeah, mostly. Me too."

"Any regrets?"

She thought about it. "None."

"Me either."

"So we're okay?"

"We're more than okay, Sam."

"Good."

They talked a while longer about their expectations - they didn't have any - and what they planned to do when they got home - nothing.

For the first time since all the craziness had started she didn't feel pressure. That might have something to do with the device working, but she thought it had more to do with the fact that she'd ironed out all the kinks of the fake-marriage thing with her fake-husband. They'd decided to play it cool and play along but leave the ultimate Earth recognition of an alien marriage to Daniel and Sha're. They wouldn't ask for special consideration - not because they didn't want it, but because they wanted SG-1 more.

It wasn't the first time she'd played second fiddle for a man, but it was the first time she'd ever felt good about it. It was the first time she ever felt like she was getting more than she was giving up. In fact, everything about the relationship she'd formed with Jack felt that way. Who would have thought that her most fulfilling relationship would be the one she never really got to have?

The next morning they approached the gate, four team members - with their weapons back, finally - and lots of equipment.

"Dial 'er up, Daniel," Jack said and she could watch the last remaining tension leak out of his body.

"Well, sir, this is it."

"Yep," he said irreverently.

The event horizon whooshed open and Sam entered the IDC. Daniel and Teal'c went through, Sam maneuvered the FREDs through and then she and Jack climbed the platform.

He stopped her just before she stepped through. "Any last thoughts, Sam?"

"No," she shook her head. "You?"

"Just one," he said. He reached up, palmed the back of her head and pulled her in for a searing kiss. When he released her she felt a little dizzy. "That oughta holds us until the next time we've got to get married, what do you think?"

She grinned at him, "Yes, sir. I think that'll do," and then she stepped through the event horizon without looking back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well folks, that's it! Hope the ending left you all happy enough - I know that's not an easy thing to do considering it's not a "they walked off into the sunset together" sort of ending. But they're happy, so perhaps that's enough.
> 
> Lots of thanks to my beta, Fems, for working with me through an over-extending posting process and kicking me into gear when I needed it. This fic wasn't just my labor, I promise you that.
> 
> And lastly, thanks to all the folks who have taken the time to read, to drop me a line, and to let me know when I've screwed up somewhere - it's all important and I'm so glad I have you all!

**Author's Note:**

> **Prompt:**
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> Sam and Jack get married off-world in an alien ceremony, either on purpose or by accident.
> 
> Must haves:  
> \- Cultural misunderstandings/differences  
> \- Unresolved Sexual Tension (which can be resolved by the end, obviously)  
> \- One or more kisses  
> \- Awkwardness  
> \- Alien (marriage) ritual  
> \- Alien food/drinks that have a mild intoxicating effect  
> \- Presence of Daniel and Teal'c  
> \- A credible explanation as to why they (accidentally) got married.
> 
> Good smut is always welcome, but not a necessity.
> 
> No:  
> \- Out of character-ness  
> \- Crack!Fic  
> \- Slash (between any members of SG-1)  
> \- Jealousy between members of SG-1 in response to this marriage (but jealous yet harmless aliens are allowed)  
> \- Pity party from Daniel that he's now all alone because his friends got together


End file.
